


Together We Fall

by mattratat



Category: Voltron - Fandom, Voltron Legendary Defender, vld - Fandom
Genre: AKA, AU, Altean lance, Angst, Arranged Marriage, Arranged Marriage AU, Emotional Abuse, Emotional Manipulation, GUESS WHAT, Galra Keith, Galra!Keith, M/M, Minor Character Death, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Royalty AU, The loves of my life, War, War AU, allura being a badass bitxh, altean!lance, blade of marmora, galra Keith/altean lance, kingdom au, klangst, physical abuse by a sibling, theres gonna be some more, war themed ptsd, war tw
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-04-21
Updated: 2018-10-01
Packaged: 2018-10-22 05:27:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 11
Words: 45,250
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10690686
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mattratat/pseuds/mattratat
Summary: Actually, Keith realized about three steps in, he wasn’t ready to face his future husband at all. He wasn’t ready. He wasn’t ready to speak to Prince Lance and he wasn’t sure that he ever would be. Twelve years of bloody, devastating conflict had ended merely weeks ago. If that didn’t spell out disaster for a marriage than Keith had no idea what would.After twelve years of bloody conflict between the Galra and Altea finally come to an end. As Queen Allura desperately grapples with the Regent Prince Lotor for a treaty that will not humiliate her people, the younger Galra Prince, Keith, winds up getting far more than he bargained for in the negotiations. Meanwhile, a trap is being set that threatens to bring failure to the peace talks and reignite the flames of war.





	1. Back in Control

Prologue: 

Keith had never asked to be a prince. In fact, he hadn’t even known that he was a prince for the first ten or so years of his life. His older brother, Lotor, was a prince- that was obvious. He was constantly being dragged around their massive castle grounds. He was attending meetings. So many meetings; there were meetings on how Lotor must behave, on how Lotor must lead, on how Lotor must manage the economy, how Lotor must this and Lotor must that and how he had absolutely no time to spend with his younger brother, who was not attending meetings for behavior nor meetings to learn how to lead, nor meetings to discuss the economy, nor any meetings at all. Rather than walk with his back straight, Keith ran around the grounds, climbing the trees and fighting his attendant, a slave from a distant land just a few years than he, with the dark red sticks fallen from the nearby forest. The brothers did not get to spend much time together and, naturally, they grew apart. Or rather, they were never given the chance to get close in the first place. Lotor grew to despise his younger brother, jealous of Keith’s freedom and ability to blend into the crowd. Keith’s loving adoration for his brother quickly turned to a justified despise, constantly wishing he didn’t have to live in his brother’s shadow. It would also help if his brother would stop being a grade A asshole, but he’d take what he could get. 

Then, their father decided that it was time for one of his sons to marry, coincidentally at the same time they were beginning to forge a new treaty after war with Altea. 

What a coincidence it was indeed. 

Chapter One: Back in Control 

The treaty was supposed to be a victory for Galra. 

It didn’t feel like one.

Twelve years. For twelve years the Galra had been at war with Altea. For twelve years the two superpowers had fought, throughout hundreds of galaxies, costing the universe more lives than any Galra nor Altean could even comprehend. And in three hours, it would officially be over. It didn’t feel real to Keith. At nineteen, Keith could only remember bits and pieces of his life before the war. He wasn’t quite sure that it had been entirely different from his life now. 

The party from Altea would be arriving at any moment. Keith wished they would hurry. He didn’t like waiting. In fact, it might have been his least favorite thing. Now, he waited beside his father with Shiro, a constant presence, in the shadows behind his right shoulder. Turning his head to the left would bring his eyes to meet his brother’s over their father’s throne. That wasn’t going to happen. The less he had to look at his brother, the better. Avoiding Lotor was practically Keith’s hobby. The pair were only brothers by title; they were nearly strangers. Keith had never wanted it to be that way, but Lotor certainly did. The biting words, the looks of pure hatred that flashed on his stupidly pretty face told Keith all that he needed to know about how his brother felt about him. To say it was dislike would be an understatement. If someone were to ask Keith what exactly it was that ruined their relationship he wouldn’t have been able to answer. Whatever it was, he stopped hoping it could be fixed long ago.

Behind him, the darker haired prince could hear the soft tapping of Shiro’s foot on the marble floors. Even Shiro was getting impatient. Maybe they had been waiting for even longer than it felt. And it felt like hours. 

The Alteans (probably) weren’t trying to be rude on purpose. However, talks for the treaty were supposed to start in three hours, with the Alteans having arrived an hour or so (Keith was guessing at this point) before now so that they could settle in. Naturally, the negotiations would take some time. The war had lasted twelve years and they had a lot of put on the table. There’d even been rumors of a marriage floating around the castle- what better way to ensure that both sides keep the peace by joining them in marriage? No wonder Lotor had been even more moody than normal since the armistice. Lotor was already against the treaty in the first place, it would be a miracle if they could get him to agree to marry an Altean. He’d rather burn down the planet. At least Gallow, their capital city, anyways. 

The seconds ticked on. Keith zoned out. The last two weeks blurred in his mind. The end of the war came with an Altean surrender at Gallipoli. It was a shock to everyone. Under Lotor’s order, the Galra forces had effectively blockaded the primary bases on thirteen Altean occupied planets, going for their throats at the home planet itself. The plan had been to starve them either out to certain death or to simply starve them to death in their homes. No one had been suspecting a surrender after twelve years of brutal and bloody combat. Maybe it should have been expected, Keith considered now, two weeks later. The Alteans were a weak species. Perhaps the true surprise lay in the length of the war. Keith had memories of being seven years old when the war began. No one thought it would be a long war. Months at most, they said. 

Of course, that was twelve years ago. They were wiser now. Lotor had taken control of the forces just three years ago when their father began to fall to his age. Now, as everyone knew, the king was a mere figurehead. Lotor was the man who was really in charge of the country, with Keith as his right hand man. All that was left was to make the transfer of the crown official. That was in sixth months time when Lotor would turn twenty three, the age of ascension on Galra. Unless their father happened to drop dead before that day, anyways. With the war coming to an end, that seemed less likely. What a shame, Keith thought, just a little bitterly. The thought was rooted in sarcasm, but he couldn’t help but wish that Lotor would claim the throne as soon as he possibly could. Then he would be even busier and Keith would see him even less. It was an ideal scenario. Not to mention, when Lotor rose to the position of Emperor, Keith would assume his own position, taking Lotor’s position as head of the Armed Forces. Lotor would run the empire while Keith ran their military. It was perfect- if Keith ignored that he would be reporting to his older brother. 

God, why couldn’t he have just been born four years earlier? That would have saved him so much trouble.

Horns suddenly blared, pulling him out of his daze. The only thing keeping him from starting in surprise was the ingrained control he had over his body after so many years of training to hide his reactions. The prince was suddenly incredibly thankful for those years of lessons. Acting like a fool in front of the Alteans was not something he was looking forward to. 

The horns quieted quickly and a herald, clearly very nervous and very Altean, rushed into the Great Hall. He looked so small and out of place, surrounded on both sides by tall columns of various shades of dark purples. The sun streaming in through the glass roofs reflected bronze in the man’s red hair, making his pale skin seem almost like it was glowing. He was rather pretty, Keith noted, watching the nervous wreck with his wide, yellow eyes. 

The man coughed once to clear his throat, then spoke with a voice so powerful that Keith could hardly believe it was actually coming from a man of such small stature. “I would like to announce Queen Allura and Prince Lance to the court,” he said, the high toned voice practically bouncing off the walls. 

As soon as he spoke, the entrance doors flew open in the typical dramatic Galra style, welcoming their two guests into the monster of a hall. One, Keith recognized immediately. Princess- no, Queen Allura of Altea. She had only recently taking the throne just two years prior following the death of her father, King Alford. There was a week of truce while the Galra allowed her time to mourn before resuming their conflict. She had much skill as a military leader, proved by many a win. Sadly, for her at least, she cared too much about her subjects, surrendering to ensure their safety from starvation.

Keith saw it as admirable. Lotor saw it as weak. 

Before the war, Lotor and the Queen had been childhood friends. Now, the sight of them standing in the same room made Keith’s stomach turn. 

Then there was the other body entering the room. Unlike his counterpart, this man looked…. Cheerful? How strange, Keith mused, finding himself intrigued by the lopsided smile that played on the newcomers lips. Who, in their situation, could find it in themselves to smile? This man, apparently. 

Who had he been announced as? Prince Lance? Right, it was Prince Lance. While this Prince was not actually a Prince, being Allura’s cousin, Altea had given him the title regardless. He had a bit of a reputation for being a flirt, Keith remembered, even in battle. Again, he thought, how strange. At least he might be interesting to be around for the next couple of weeks, if nothing else. Not to mention, he was incredibly good looking, as much as Keith hated to admit it. Sure, by nature, Alteans were typically beautiful, but this prince seemed to be all of that and more. As he drew closer Keith could make out the high cheekbones and bright eyes that accompanied the lanky (yet somehow graceful- Keith couldn’t help but be jealous) stature. His skin was lighter than Allura’s, but just as glow-y, for lack of a better word on Keith’s part. 

As they drew nearer, the King stood up, using the arms of the throne to subtly prop himself up. He was weak, but the less the Alteans suspected, the better. Lotor would take his place soon enough, anyways. 

“Your Highness,” Queen Allura greeted, dipping into a brief curtsey before the court, “Thank you for having us.” 

“Thank you for surrendering to us,” Shiro muttered under his breath, just loud enough for Keith to hear. Keith couldn’t help but snort in response. He didn’t look to see, but he was sure that Lotor was shooting him a glare of aggravation at the sound. He could see that the Altean Prince was watching him, too. Keith raised an eyebrow at him. Why was he looking at Keith? Their eyes were locked, but Prince Lance made no move to acknowledge that he’d seen the slight lift of Keith’s brow. It was actually a bit aggravating. Keith wasn’t sure what he was expecting from the man, but it wasn’t being ignored all together. 

He looked away. 

Allura was still speaking, but he honestly couldn’t care less about what she was saying. Her words were kind, but her tone of voice was biting, as it should be. After all, she’d just surrendered to her enemy of twelve years merely two weeks ago. It was a miracle she didn’t come with a gun. The idea alone made Keith’s hands twitch with the urge to grab the knife at his side. He had a feeling the sensations of war weren’t going to leave him any time soon. 

“....We’re sorry that our royal advisor could not make it. He tends to get rather ill traveling. And, of course, I’d like to introduce my cousin, Lance,” the Queen finished, as if they hadn’t been announced properly upon arrival. It was a subtle insult to the Galra. They were very particular about identities and introductions. 

A grin found its way onto the Altean’s face. Keith had heard of smiles being blinding before, but he hadn’t quite believed it was possible until now. The Prince just seemed to radiate cheer and light.

The fuck? 

Lance (Keith was having a hard time thinking of him as a prince) stooped into a bow that was far to overdramatic. Keith had to physcially stop himself from rolling his eyes. Behind him, Shiro muttered, this time saying, “He looks like your type- seems to be acting like it, too.”

Keith had to try very hard to not turn around and smack Shiro. 

Lance’s voice felt like razors to Keith’s ears. Dripping with an overly sweet Altean accent, laced with hidden anger, the first sign of real emotions that he displayed. “Emperor Zarkon,” he greeted, flashing his annoyingly large grin at the emperor, “How wonderful it is to see you without the dangers of battle. I trust we find you in good health?”

Keith tensed. He heard a sharp intake of breath from Lotor to his left. The question sounded innocent enough, but… They couldn’t risk their guests coming to the conclusion that the current holder of the planet’s crown was dying just a little more each day. They just had to keep the secret for six more months. It was the only thing that the brothers could agree on. 

Luckily for them, their father was dying, not an idiot. 

The Emperor just chuckled lightly, startling both his sons. Since when did their father chuckle? It was more than a little strange. “Prince Lance, thank you. I am doing quite well, thank you.” 

“Unlike your planet.” Keith was starting to wonder when exactly his attendant had become such a smartass. It wasn’t not like Shiro, exactly, but it wasn’t quite normal, either. Maybe seeing Alteans again was stressing him out. He made a mental note to ask him about it later.

“Shall my servants show you to your rooms? Your journey was long, I must insist you rest before we begin this evening.”

“That would be most delightful, thank you,” Allura said, bowing her head in appreciation. The look of sorrow that Keith caught in her eyes almost made Keith pity her for a moment. Almost. 

“Actually,” Lotor said, his melodious voice making Keith’s teeth grind it aggravation, “If it was alright with the queen, I would be honored to escort her to her lodgings myself.” 

A double edged sword. Was Lotor suddenly reminiscing the days that the pair were childhood friends? It was hard to tell. His tone of voice was charming enough. 

Allura looked pained, but she nodded in agreement. “I would… appreciate that very much.” 

Next to her, Lance (Prince Lance, as Keith realized he should probably be referring to him as) looked at Keith almost expectantly, as if he thought that the younger prince would follow in his brother’s footsteps and offer his services. He did not. 

An uncomfortable moment of silence passed as Lotor stepped down from his position beside the throne and made his way to the Queen, holding out an arm for her to take. As they left, Lance looked back at Keith once more, this time with an unreadable expression. Then, much to Keith’s surprise, the Altean grinned again and winked across the hall. He turned, leaving Keith to stare after him. 

After a long moment had passed, Keith turned to Shiro, frowning ever so slightly. “Come on,” he said, turning swiftly on his heel, “Let’s go.”

That was Keith Kogane’s first encounter with the Prince of Altea.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey guys! ren here. thanks for making it this far! i appreciate you so much just for reading, but please leave a comment or a kudos if you enjoyed! and feel free to hmu on twitter anytime (pls do) @giveshiroabreak !! have a good one!


	2. No Bullets Fly

Keith wasn’t invited to sit in on the opening of the negotiations, which was was perfectly fine with him. Peace politics seemed like a drag compared to that of the last twelve years. He’d grown up with war. He supposed he should care more. He was a prince, after all. But he would never have to be Emperor, so he saw little use in learning how to rule.

Shiro said that that was irresponsible.

Keith didn’t care.

So, rather than spending the evening sitting around the massive table in the formal dining hall, Keith was walking the grounds with Shiro, his hands stuffed in his pockets. He’d traded his tight uniform for a baggier shirt and sweatpants. Lotor would probably have gone ballistic if he could see his brother now.

Keith still didn’t care.

He wasn’t supposed to look like anything other than a prince in front of their Altean “guests.” He thought that was stupid. They’d beat them; it wasn’t his problem to impress the Alteans. Besides, Keith liked making the Alteans see that they had been by two kids in sweatpants. (That wasn’t quite true. Lotor would rather pluck out his own eyes before getting caught in sweatpants.)

Next to him, Shiro sighed. “It’s weird, isn’t it? Having them here, I mean. With a white flag rather than a gun.”

Keith nodded. It was weird. Again, he felt the urge to grab for his knife. He glanced over his shoulder. Now that Shiro was speaking, he couldn’t shake the feeling that they were being watched. “Yeah,” he agreed, turning his gaze to his friend now. Technically, he couldn’t refer to Shiro as a friend. Shiro was a slave, charged with waiting on Keith’s every need. Protection, midnight snacks, anything. Keith felt as if they were friends after the ten years since Shiro had been brought to him as a prisoner of war. He wasn’t sure that Shiro would say the same. Why would he? He was a slave and Keith was his charge. If the roles were switched, Keith probably would have tried to kill Shiro by now.

He trained his gaze ahead, the red and purple leaves crunching under their feet. This was Keith’s favorite time of year. The trees were admittedly dying, but he loved the sound of their leaves crunching over his feet. Both suns were equal distance from the planet, making the temperature perfect, as well. Cold in the mornings, warm in the afternoons, cool in the evenings. Perfect.

“We’ll get used to it,” the man next to him assured him with a light shrug of the shoulders.

“When?” Keith retorted. He couldn’t help but be a bit of an ass. He didn’t know who he was in peace.

Shiro shot him a glance of disappointment. Keith felt himself shrink under it. For some reason, Shiro’s opinion was the one he cared for the most, even above his father and brother’s. It seemed backwards and the thought refused to sit easy in his mind.

“Don’t be so hard on yourself,” Shiro said, placing a hand on Keith’s covered shoulder. “You’ll adjust in no time. The war didn’t define who you were. Now, peace won’t define who you will be.”

It was a pretty speech, but Keith wasn’t entirely sure that he believed it. He just had too much doubt in his mind. The slightest of sounds seemed to be making him twitch towards his blade, ready to defend himself and Shiro at any given moment.

Admittedly, it was Shiro’s job to defend him, but Keith would rather be safe than sorry. Besides, he was able to hold his own. He’d just spent three years worth of battles proving that. “How do you think the negotiations are going?” He asked, glancing over at Shiro once more as they walked.

“Terribly,” Shiro said, always the optimist. The sun was reflecting bright golds at the patch of white on his forehead. Keith could remember the time before Shiro’s hair had turned white. He’d always been curious how that had happened when he was younger. Eventually, he’d given up and asked Shiro about it. He’d laughed at Keith’s question, much to Keith’s annoyance. He’d told him how back on his planet, Earth, when one aged their hair changed colors. It could also be a result, he’d added, of stress. Things had been awkward between them for a few days after that. “There’s no telling how the Queen is going to react. She’s probably humiliated-”

“Probably?” Keith cut in, raising a brow.

Shiro rolled his eyes at the Prince, clearly annoyed at being interrupted. “Like I was saying, there’s no way to know what she’ll do. Ultimately, all of the decisions are really going to be Lotor’s, but still.”

“But still,” Keith echoed in agreement.

More leaves crunched under their feet. Keith absentmindedly made sure that he stepped on all of the ones in his path and some of Shiro’s, too. Shiro was used to Keith enough by now to expect the steps in his path every once and awhile.  
Keith struggled to come up with another topic for conversation. He didn’t want to talk about the treaties. He didn’t want to talk about the war. There wasn’t a whole lot else going on.

Shiro spoke up for him, saying, “So, what did you think of the Alteans?”

“They seemed all right,” Keith shrugged, jumping over to catch another leaf. “I don’t trust them, though.”

“You shouldn’t,” Shiro agreed, his gaze trained forward. “Allura seems to be as beautiful as she was said to be.”

The Galra snorted. He wasn’t surprised that Shiro would wind up admiring the Queen. She was strong and kind and beautiful. Perfect for Shiro. Completely out of Shiro’s grasp, but still better than his last disaster of a boyfriend.

“The herald, though, the one with orange hair,” Shiro continued, “looks oddly familiar, don’t you think?”

He shook his head. “Nah, not really.” He couldn’t recall any faces that resembled theirs.

“Maybe I’m thinking of someone from my time here before I was assigned to you.”

Keith winced at that. Logically, he knew that Shiro was only here because he was, quite literally, forced to be. Still, Keith wished that the pair could be friends. Shiro often felt like the closest thing he had to a friend, sometimes even to a brother. Far more than Lotor ever had, anyways.

“What about Prince Lance?” Shiro prodded, nudging Keith with his shoulder. “He seemed all right, don’t you think?”

Keith rolled his eyes. “He looked like a right pain in the ass. They all did.”

“That’s your wartime prejudice speaking. You’ll get over it.”

“We’ll see.”

They walked in silence for a few more minutes. Without battle plans to go over or weapons to inspect, Keith was finding it very difficult to hold a conversation.

Was he really this empty without a war? What was there to talk about? It was almost enough to give Keith an identity crisis. Almost.

The suns would be setting soon. “Want to go get dinner?” He asked, tucking a strand of hair behind his ear as he talked. He’d never given in and cut his hair to regulation; neither had Lotor. They both claimed royal privilege. Keith, however, did put effort into keeping it relatively decent, just going past his shoulders most of the time. His older brother, however, hadn’t had a haircut in years. While Keith’s hair was dark, Lotor’s was white, spilling down his back in a way that Keith was envious of. Often it was pulled back in some form of a ponytail or braid, but it was still far too pretty. It wasn’t hard to imagine rumors drifting around the planet of Regent Prince being part Altean himself- his ears were far sharper than his father’s, he had the stupidly majestic hair the entire species seemed to have. Keith seemingly lucked out when it came to their family’s gene pool. It was just another long list of things that Keith was annoyed by when it came to Lotor.

Dinner sounded like a good idea. “Yeah. Kitchens?”

Shiro nodded. Oftentimes they just couldn’t be bothered with formal meals and would “sneak” into the kitchens to get food. The cooks had grown to expect it these days.

Their walk back into the castle was filled with silence. It wasn’t necessarily an uncomfortable one, but Keith still felt the need to speak in the back of his throat. Thankfully, the problem didn’t have to bug him for the entire duration of their trek back.

Within the first few feet of entering his home, Keith found himself smacking nearly dead on with someone who was moving very, very swiftly. Both jumped back while Shiro jumped in between, mostly out of instinct. But they weren’t at war anymore, so he stepped back almost immediately to reveal another prince, who was currently brushing his hair back into place with a look of indignation. Lacking his cheerful nature from before, Prince Lance of Altea just looked… tired. The look dropped from his features quickly, however, and replaced with an expression that Keith could only describe as pissy.

“For a species only trained in military maneuvers you all are…. a bit shit at looking where you’re going, aren’t you?” He practically spat, tone practically dripping with accent leaded spite. His glare traveled from Keith to Shiro and back.

Keith was rather speechless.

“No need to get hostile,” Shiro said, saving him the trouble of responding. “We were just trying to come inside. Besides, is that any way to talk to another prince?”

For a moment, Keith could have sworn that Lance looked confused. What a dick.

“Prince?” He asked, looking Keith up and down. “You don’t look like a prince to me.”

Keith finally returned his glare with one of his own. “And I should care why?”

Lance snorted. If he was going to turn his attitude around, Keith thought, this would be the time to do it. Rather, he didn’t say anything at all, simply rolling his eyes and turning on his heel.

“At least I’m a prince who wins wars,” Keith muttered under his breath. If Lance heard it, he gave no sign as he walked away, the slight heel of his shoes reverberating against the hard marble floors of the castle.

“I’d ask him what his problem was, but I suspect it’s because he just came from the negotiations,” Shiro sighed, already starting to walk towards the kitchens again.

Keith had to increase the length of his steps to keep up. The realization that Lance had been invited to the table while he was not didn’t sit well. It was Lotor’s doing, of course, and he wasn’t surprised, but he couldn’t help but feel annoyed anyways. “I guess.” Doesn’t mean he automatically gets to be an asshole about it.

“I know what you’re thinking, and stop it,” Shiro said, reading Keith’s expression to a tee, no doubt. “You’d have burned their castle to the ground already if the positions were reversed, this isn’t the time to get high and mighty.”

Well, shit. That was annoyingly true. “All right, fine. I’ll cut him some slack.”

“That’s not what I said. Understand him, but don’t give him the benefit of the doubt.”

Keith wanted to ask who was still on war mode now, but he wasn’t sure he really cared to pick a fight right now. He quickly changed the topic to depthless one and the two carried on the small talk until they reached the kitchen, Shiro pushing open the heavy doors to permit entry. Everything in the castle was decorated and heavy. It was rather annoying.

The cooks were surprisingly absent. Perhaps they were busy preparing for the next day’s meals already. It was possibly; the Galra liked to show off, especially in the wake of a victory. It was something of a superiority complex with them.

Keith suspected that Lotor was going to have the entire staff bleeding from their eyes by the end of the “discussions” from trying to overdo everything. If anyone was going to show off, it was going to be the Regent Prince.

Despite the absence of staff, there were still two plates sitting on one of the counters. Keith was forever grateful that he had never grown snotty with the majority of them like his brother. Being less of a dickhead had its perks.

The night dragged on. They returned to the living quarters as the suns were setting, casting a warm maroon glow through the castle’s high windows and sunroofs. Shadows littered the walls. The pair chatted about shallow things: their dinner, the state of the grounds, the annoying things that Lotor might be doing at the negotiation table over the following weeks. Keith’s money was on it taking two weeks tops for Allura and her party to decide they’d rather just be at war with the Galra than put up with his brother. He was only mostly joking.

He returned his room, Shiro’s across the hall. After almost three years away in war, it didn’t quite feel like his own room yet. The tall ceilings were familiar, as was the large bed shoved against the wall in an attempt to make room for a desk. It was all familiar, but since returning home, it didn’t feel like his own.

The bed was plenty comfortable, but that didn’t keep him from staring at the ceiling for an indeterminate amount of time, both wishing for and against sleep to take him. Slowly, though, as the clock ticked, his eyes began to flutter and close until he couldn’t hold out anymore, tossing and turning on the deep red sheets.

_The explosion shook the building. Lights flickered, roars sounded, men shouted. And men screamed. Oh, how they screamed. Keith wasn’t alone. Shiro stood at his side as the two stayed hunched over the table with Commander Thace, desperately trying to think of a solution._

_“If we evacuate through here-”_

_“No, Keith. The Alteans have set traps there, we won’t make it out alive.”_

_Keith let out an strangled sound of frustration. “If we continue to sit here debating and doing nothing we won’t make it out alive!”_  
_Shiro’s hand was on his shoulder then. He met the man’s eyes. An understanding passed between them. They would do what needed to be done. Keith nodded._

_“We need to ready the men,” he said, snatching up the map of their base as he turned. Thace balked for a moment in confusion, but quickly adapted. Keith’s troops were known for their ability to mold and fit whatever challenge they faced. This would be no different._

_< i>Keith’s knife was strapped to his leg, but in a fight such as this it would be useless. So, he grabbed a large blaster from the wall, tossing it to Shiro before grabbing one for himself. Arming a slave was typically against protocol, but the men and women under his command were never eager to question their Prince’s decisions. The men liked Keith. He wasn’t untouchable to them, like Lotor was. He was one of them and they loved and respected him. Keith may never be emperor, but Lotor would never be a true commander._

_The lights continued to flicker as Keith took off at a run with Shiro by his side, the two running through the nearest corridor. They would find the largest concentration of soldiers there and it would be the most obvious place for the Altean forces to target. The troops, trained for air combat more than ground, were huddled in various squads. All snapped to attention as Keith and Shiro darted into the room, both trying to look as composed as humanly possible. Thace was still behind them, probably radioing that they might need backup._

_The attack had come as a surprise; no one thought that the Alteans even had knowledge that this base existed. That’s why Keith’s fleet had chosen it to be their stop to refuel and rest for mere days before resuming the war. The soldiers had been happy; the last six months had been exhausting, even for combat standards. A few days rest had lifted everyone’s spirits and brought life back into the crew._

_But, of course, it didn’t last._

_There were several shouts of general greeting to the commander, as well as the “What are we going to do?”’s that followed any armed situation. Keith would pretend to have a plan. He never really did; that’s what made them so good at adapting. He always pretended. He never failed._

_The Galra were typically known for their sheer strength in combat, while Keith borrowed tactics from their many colonies to give his team hidden advantages._

_Explosions shook the building. Several men cried out, it was all happening so fast- breathe. He had to breathe. Ignore the sweat pooling at the back of his neck and the scared looks of his soldiers. The lights flickered above them, causing even more shouts to rise._

_“Silence!” Shiro yelled. A deafening silence fell over the group. Shiro, despite his status as a slave, was so obviously Keith’s second in command that the troops would follow him to their grave. They loved him, perhaps even more than they loved Keith. The only sounds that followed his cry were more blasts from above. They sounded like they were getting closer._

_Keith coughed once to clear his throat. They were surrounded, with no way out now that the two entrances were under fire, the hangar guarded closely by the Altean forces, and two of the three escape routes caved in. The third was their only option. To stay and fight would be suicide. According to tradition, they should stay and fight until their last breath, hopeless or not. Keith thought that that was ridiculous; they should live to fight back another day if there was no hope in saving the base. There wasn’t._

_“We’re leaving,” Keith said, his voice no longer shaking under the pressures of war._

_No one questioned him. Thace was arranging the transports as they spoke, either reinforcements or somehow securing the hangar once more. Keith nodded to Shiro, who turned to leave. It was Shiro’s responsibility to check now- if Thace failed, they would have no other option than to stay and fight. Shiro clapped a hand on his shoulder one last time before leaving, an unspoken goodbye, just in case. But they’d dealt with worse._

_The evacuation shouldn’t have taken so long. There were only one hundred men in this division, it should have taken them no time at all to cover the base. The Alteans had begun to anticipate Keith’s actions more than he realized, however, and explosions chased them from the minute troops began to leave for their only last hope for an exit. The Alteans hadn’t broke through yet- it was nearly impossible to penetrate a Galra fort- but it sounded like they were close._

_Keith was in the rear, making it his responsibility to see each of the men to safety. They ran past him and into the next corridor. Some saluted as they passed, others just ran with fear hidden behind their eyes. They were Galra soldiers, but they still feared. They were soldiers, but they were also fathers and mothers, brothers and sisters, kids. Some were just kids. Keith was just a kid, he remembered a bit bitterly as it was his turn to leave._

_The building was now shaking without pause. He hoped Shiro would find him soon. Something must be wrong- it shouldn’t be taking this long to find him. Panic started to boil in the back of Keith’s throat, but he tried to force it from his mind. They were Galra. Nothing could stop them but victory or death. Keith just wished he could see to it that his troops survived long enough to see the victory. With each passing moment without Shiro’s appearance, his hope for such shrunk._

_He didn’t even register what was happening- one moment he was running, the next he was smacking against the wall, blaster falling from his hand as he crumpled onto the ground. Blood was suddenly pouring in front of his eyes- it must be his. He couldn’t feel any pain. In front of him, light streamed in through a new hole in the walls. The fort was falling._

_He heard a strangled cry from the pile of ruin in front of him. Wiping the blood out of his vision, he rushed over, finding a young soldier pinned down under two large chunks of the wall. He could hear shouts of more men on the other side, surprised at being separated from their Prince and Commander. He shouted for them to go ahead, to find Shiro and send him immediately._

_He crouched next to the crushed soldier. The soldier looked up at Keith with such panic and fear that it made his heart clench. He looked young- Keith’s age, really. He was gasping for air. Keith started as the boy’s free hand suddenly grasped at his arm. The soldier seemed to be trying to speak, but only strangled gurgling sounds escaped from his mouth, making it impossible to understand him._

_Keith placed a hand on his forehead, trying to gently wipe the debris from the soldier’s hair. It was a wasted effort, but it seemed to calm the soldier, if only just a little._

_After so long in war, Keith had seen plenty of death. But it always felt like the first time, and never was it quite so up close and personal. He knew that he would be the last thing this boy would see. The boy seemed to know it, too. Keith smiled at him, trying to not betray how panicked he felt. He started to speak, to say something comforting, but another blast threw him back again._

_This time he didn’t allow himself to lose his balance, skidding on two feet and using his right hand to keep from falling. He coughed, debris flooding the remaining space around him, debris and dust. There was so much dust in the air that for a moment it stung his eyes before settling. His blaster was only a few feet away. He could no longer see the young soldier in the rubble. Keith hoped that he was already dead._

_He shot over to his blaster, resolve forming in his mind. This was war- there was no time for panic. Besides, there was always worse situations to be in and he was a Galra soldier- nothing could stop him. Still, his exits were now blocked off completely, and the space around him seemed to be growing smaller and smaller-_

_BOOM._

_Keith didn’t get thrown this time. Instead, he found himself flattened under a large chunk of the ceiling. His ears were ringing, it was all he could hear. He couldn’t feel any pain; he couldn’t feel his body at all. His vision was completely red now from the blood still flowing into his eyes and when he tried to wipe it away, he found his arms were pinned completely too._

_The pain hit him all at once and Keith screamed, unable to hear even that over the ringing in his ears. He was weak for feeling pain, he was weak for screaming, he was weak for being scared-_

_He was just a kid. Just a kid, like the other soldier, pinned and dying or dead just like him, ten feet away._

_Keith struggled and struggled to get free, but his vision was gone, his limbs uncontrollable, the ceiling on top of him to heavy… He was going to die, he realized. Nothing but victory or death suddenly seemed very, very real._

_“Keith!” Oh, thank god. It was Shiro- Shiro could help him- Shiro’s arm could lift this- Shiro could- “Keith!-”_

“Keith!”

The same voice that had shouted in his dream woke him now, Keith waking with a start. Shiro stood over him, metal arm on his shoulder. He looked troubled, as if Keith didn’t wake up panicked enough.

“Your brother wants to see you.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've decided to stick with a schedule of uploading on Fridays!  
> And a thank you to Steven, for the amazing writing advice. "Hey Lance, cum here for a second." Keith yelled, glaring at Pidge with all his gay might. Lance, the dick lover he was, skipped over to Keith. "HUMP ME, FUCK ME, DADDY BETTER MAKE ME CHOKE!" HE SCREECHED." Im love u forever Steven.  
> And thank you to everyone who left a kudos or a comment! I appreciated every single one of them so much!


	3. Union

An invitation to see his brother was never welcome. Yet, here Keith was, walking side by side with Shiro to his brother’s offices. Offices was bit of an under exaggeration. Lotor, the pompous prick that he was, used an entire wing of the castle to conduct his business. At least, he said he did. Yet they always seemed to meet in the same relatively small room.

 

They arrived. They knocked. They entered. 

 

Lotor looked up from his desk when they entered, making no move to stand and greet them. Keith expected no less. His brother was a pompous prick who wouldn’t show respect to their father behind closed doors, let alone a brother he inherently saw as inferior. Keith wondered for a moment how peace might change his brother. He doubted that it would be for the better. 

 

As it was, Lotor still offered a word of greeting. “Brother,” was all he said before looking back down at his papers. The light was reflecting purple in his hair, which was pulled back in a rather sloppy and high ponytail. Keith suspected he’d slept with it in. That wasn't terribly unlike his brother, even if it was more likely on any given day to see Lotor put together completely, not a hair out of place. Today was not one of those days.

 

“What do you want?” Keith asked, ready to get down to business. This was partially because he cared what his brother wanted, but primarily because he had woken up hungry as all hell. The one thing that Keith was realizing he liked about peace: no rationing. As a prince, it wasn't like he had bad rations during the war, but he was really growing used to having cooks on hand twenty four/seven. 

 

Lotor raised an eyebrow, his lip curling. “Excuse me? Is that any way to address your superior?”

 

Keith could feel Shiro shaking with contained laughter off his shoulder. That shithead.

 

“What superior?” He asked, returning the eyebrow raise with one of his own, crossing his arms as well.

 

Lotor’s eyes narrowed, but before he could respond, there was a knock on the door. Keith was a bit surprised, but Lotor seemed unfazed, dropping the malice from his expression. Though he offered no response, the door swung open anyways, revealing the Altean Queen and Prince. The Queen looked tired, but not necessarily unhappy. The Prince, however, looked about as happy as one might after being told a friend had died. 

 

This time, Lotor stood, a dazzling smile suddenly on his face. Keith’s eyes narrowed. If Lotor was smiling, something was wrong. He glanced over at Shiro, raising an eyebrow. Shiro’s expression was nearly identical to his, the slave’s dark eyes reflecting what Keith was wondering: what the hell was going on? 

 

For a second, Keith wondered if he had suddenly been invited to sit in on the negotiations. That wouldn’t explain why Shiro was permitted in the room, though. He was a slave, and not even a slave from a Galra occupied planet. He’d been picked up from an Altean prison camp. He’d refused to tell  _ them  _ what planet his mission originated from and Keith suspected that he would carry that secret to the grave. It was noble, of course, but sometimes Shiro would say things about his home that would make curiosity stick in Keith’s mind for days. 

 

To be fair, he probably wouldn’t want to tell anyone where his home was, either, if he was in Shiro’s position. It was a miracle the Alteans hadn’t automatically taken him for a spy and executed him. Of course, that wasn’t really the Altean’s style, so to speak. They were much more… lenient than the Galra Empire. At least, they were at the beginning of the war. 

 

The war had changed a lot of things. For both empires. 

 

The sound of Lotor’s voice reeled Keith’s thoughts back to the matter at hand… even if he still wasn’t quite aware of what that was.

 

“Your Highness, lovely to see you again,” Lotor said, his voice dripping with false charm as he bowed to the newly arrived royals. “Prince Lance.”

 

“Is it really?” Allura asked, her tone light and smile just as fake. 

 

“Well, I can imagine it’s always a pleasure to see me,” Lance chimed in, finally breaking his scowl for a quick grin and wink combination. Keith and Shiro’s eyes met briefly before Keith rolled his, pretending then to roll them back into his skull. 

 

“Of course,” Lotor responded, nodding at the Prince’s comment. “I hope your rooms and servants were both accommodating last night?” 

 

Small talk? What was Lotor playing at, exactly? And why, Keith wondered, was he looking so charmingly at the Queen? 

 

“They were just fine, thank you,” Queen Allura replied. For a moment, Keith could have sworn that her eyes moved to glance at Shiro, but it was so brief that he couldn’t be sure. He wondered what that could be about. He looked once more at Shiro see if he’d noticed, but the slave made no indication that he had. Perhaps Allura too was wondering where he came from; he had so many features that an Altean might have, but was lacking the obvious ones. So he couldn’t be fully Altean… what on Galra was he? If she wanted to know, Keith wished her luck. Not that it would help, of course. “Shall we move on to the issue at hand?”

 

Lotor nodded, motioning with a graceful gesture for the two guests to sit in the chairs in front of his desk. Neither chose to, so he simply continued as if nothing happened, but Keith could see the annoyance behind his smile. “Well, Prince Lance and Prince Keith, the two of us have called you here to inform you of one of the deals proposed in the treaty negotiations.”

 

Keith glanced over to gauge the other Prince’s reaction. Had Lance not been a part of the negotiations after all? If not, where the hell had he been all this time? And why did Keith care? 

 

His thigh felt heavy where his knife usually lay. He hadn't bothered to get it when dressing; he wasn't dressed for battle. A simple shirt and pants had seemed reasonable at the time. Now he felt a bit underdressed in the current company. The Alteans looked the same way they always did: so regal that it bordered on being ridiculous. Long dresses and capes, both of which seemed a bit impractical in war.

 

Keith had to remind himself that the war was over. It wasn't the first time. 

 

Lotor paused, perhaps for Allura to say something. She didn't, so he continued. “To secure the peace between our empires, we have decided that there needs to be something at the center of both of our governments that will secure peace. Something to solidify the trust between us, so to speak.” He paused again. Keith guessed it was for dramatic effect. “There is to be a marriage. And it is going to be between the two of you.”

 

For a moment, there was silence. Then, two voices both loudly protesting.

 

“I am not-”

 

“Marry  _ him?  _ No way in-”

 

“You can't seriously expect that this-”

 

“What kind of a sick joke is this anyways?”

 

Keith’s ears were ringing as both he and his… fiancé loudly shared their discomfort at the situation. Engaged?  _ Him?  _ Impossible. Especially to an Altean. Suddenly, he remembered the rumors floating around the castle… Lotor was so annoyed because of a possible engagement to an Altean… and suddenly it made sense.

 

The betrayal and anger was flashing behind Keith’s eyes as they met the ever so similar yellow eyes of his brother. There was smug satisfaction practically oozing from his brother's pores.  _ How dare he?  _

 

“How dare you?” 

 

For a moment, Keith wondered if he’d spoken aloud. Rather, he realized that the voice belonged to the other Prince, who was looking at his cousin with a look that mirrored his Galra counterpart’s. 

 

“How dare you,” Lance repeated, “make this choice for me?” 

 

“For us,” Keith muttered under his breath. His comment went unheard- or at least ignored.

 

The brown haired Altean continued. “I won't have this. I simply will not!”

 

“You will,” his cousin fired back, her eyes blazing with irritation. Her expression clearly showed her thoughts: she had been expecting this reaction, but was still aggravated with it.

 

Keith felt detached from the situation. It wasn't that he necessarily minded the engagement- well, no, he really did mind the engagement, actually- but the thing that was so surreal was the sudden lack of control he had over his own life. For three years he’d been in command of his fleet and now he couldn't even decide who he got to marry. Lance was right- how dare they? 

 

He snapped back into reality, anger towards his brother burning in the back of his throat. He was aware that the two Alteans were still snapping at each other, but he only had eyes for his brother. The smug, self serving bastard of a sibling. 

 

“Rot in Hell,” Keith spat, his voice louder than he expected, silencing the whole room. Everyone was watching him. He didn't care. “You pat-”

 

He was cut off by a hand on his shoulder, squeezing it tightly. The surprise of the sudden touch shut him up before he realized what it was; Shiro’s hand, reminding him to shut up before he said anything he would really regret. He was too angry to be thankful.

 

His lip curled with a glare before he turned on his heels, the snap of his boots reminding him momentarily of a fight in an Altean held base where they’d sounded off the walls so loud that he'd had to take them off to be stealthy enough to penetrate the compound. He took a deep breath to shake the memory from his mind. His brain was so cloudy with anger that he couldn't see straight, let alone breathe. He could hear the Alteans resuming their argument as he fled the room, he could sense that Shiro was hot on his heels. The hallway was spinning when he made it out of the office. He felt so completely and utterly defenseless. His control slipped through his fingers so quickly that he hadn't even have more than two weeks to realize it. He was under Lotor’s complete control now. The thought made him nauseous. 

 

“Keith!” Shiro’s strong voice resonated in his ears. 

 

_ “Pull up! If you fly any lower we’re going to be spotted!” _

 

_ A missile whirred past the small fighter ship- Keith’s small fighter ship.  _

 

_ “We have to shoot now!” _

 

_ “No. Focus. Be patient. You can't be too trigger happy now, Keith-” _

 

_ “Why the damn hell not?”  _

 

“Keith!” It was Shiro’s voice again, but it was real this time, it wasn't in Keith’s head. He realized that he was against a wall, Shiro’s hands being the only thing steadying his shoulders against it. “Snap out of it! Breathe in until I get to three.”

 

“One.”

 

Keith breathed in. It hurt his throat, he realized that he must have been hyperventilating.

 

“Two.”

 

The light flooding in from the ceiling was reflecting red in Shiro’s white spots of hair.

 

“Three.” 

 

Keith let out the breath. 

 

“Again. One.”

 

His head was still spinning. He couldn't stop his eyes from darting side to side, trying to take in the entire hall.

 

“Two.”

 

He caught something in his sight. His eyes widened. It was Lance, leaving the office. Stopping to watch what was going on.

 

“Three.”

 

The Prince was alone. Allura must still be with Lotor.

 

Keith couldn't think straight enough to focus on the fact that he was being watched. Shiro’s grip on his shoulders was lessened. He felt his body sag without the pressure. But he was still standing. 

 

“Better?” Shiro asked, clearly concerned. It was written all over his face. 

 

Keith didn't speak for a moment. He couldn't. “I… I’m good.” 

 

Shiro let go of him completely, but still looked concerned. “Are you sure?”

 

“I’m sure,” Keith snapped at him this time, immediately regretting it. Shiro hadn’t done anything. What the hell just happened, anyways? 

 

Shiro didn't look mad at his outburst, though. “As long as you're sure.” 

 

“Can we not talk about it?”

 

“Of course.”

 

* * *

  
  


A day passed. Keith didn't see his brother, or any of the Altean parting, save passing the chef and mechanic (certainly an interesting combination) in the kitchens with the herald. They studied him and Shiro as they grabbed their dinner. 

 

“Hey. You're Shiro, right?” The herald had asked, giving Keith’s slave an inquisitive look. 

 

Shiro looked surprised at being spoken to. “Uh, yes sir. The one and only.”

 

The ginger haired one wrinkled their nose at being called sir. “I’m not sir,” they said. “I’m just Pidge. We save sir for Coran or Lance.” 

 

Keith had to hold back a snort. He couldn't imagine calling Lance “sir.” 

 

“Oh, and this is Hunk.”

 

Pidge’s dark skinned companion waved at them. “Hi. I’m Hunk. Uh, obviously, Pidge just said that. Nice to meet you. You know, we were going to anyways, since we’re going to be working together, but now seems like as good a time as any TO introduce ourselves.”

 

Both Keith and Shiro’s eyebrows shot to their hairlines. “Working together?” Shiro asked. “Like during the negotiations you mean?” 

 

“I mean yeah,” Hunk said, nodding his head. He had to push strands of his bandana back off his forehead. “Oh, did noone tell you?”

 

“Tell me what?” 

 

Keith was starting to wonder that himself. Did he suddenly not have control over his own slave?

 

The thought made him sick. If there was something he didn't want control over, it was Shiro. He wanted them to be friends. And with Keith in control, how could they be? Keith was in desperate need of a friend. 

 

“Oh, well,-” 

 

“Queen Allura specifically asked for you to be one her attendants,” Pidge cut in, straightening their glasses as they spoke

 

Shiro’s face seemed to change color for a moment, something redder than normal. Keith had no idea what that meant. Did all of his kind do that? It was weird.

 

“She did?” Shiro asked. 

 

“Did Lotor grant the request?” Keith asked before anyone could answer the question.

 

Both of the Alteans looked surprised to see him speak. Keith suspected that they didn’t recognize him without all of the markings of royalty. Unlike his white haired brother, he had no features that made him particularly memorable. 

 

Hunk nodded. “He did.” The man glanced around for a moment before speaking again, this time with a lower voice. “We think it was just to spite the younger prince. Since you’re his slave and all, Shiro.” 

 

“Probably,” Keith said with annoyance, not making the same effort to lower his voice as the mechanic had. Shiro shot him a look that clearly conveyed that Keith should shut up. Keith didn’t pay it any attention. “That’s, like, half of Lotor’s agenda on any given day.”

 

“Really?” Pidge asked, leaning forward. Clearly these two were at least a little interested in gossip. 

 

“Wait, can we back up a second?” Shiro asked. “Why did the Queen ask for me?”

 

“Oh, no idea,” Pidge said, shrugging and exchanging a look with Hunk. He shrugged, too. “My guess would be that you’re not Galra. Ah, sorry… what was your name again?”

 

“Keith.” 

 

“Right, sorry Keith. You know how things are, just ended the war, have to deal with the Prince’s stuck up ass. If I were her I wouldn’t want to be hanging out with more of you than I had to. Wait, Keith- like Prince Keith?”

 

Shiro chuckled softly. Keith felt himself smile for the first time in days. “Yeah, like that.”

 

The two Alteans were suddenly a blur, trying to get to a standing position to bow out of respect, as was Altean custom. They were an amusing sight. Pidge knocked over their bowl of soup in the process; it splattered all over Keith’s feet. He couldn’t help but laugh at that. 

 

“Guys, you can knock it off,” Shiro said, not unkindly as he bent to pick up the fallen bowl. Pidge looked absolutely mortified as they watched. 

 

“I am-”

 

“It’s fine,” Shiro said before they could even get the apology out. Shiro’s expression softened a little, like an older brother’s might. “Come on, I’ll get you some more soup.” 

 

Pidge looked thankful for a moment and nodded, the two of them heading deeper into the kitchen. 

 

“So, Prince Keith, huh?” Hunk said, retaking his seat. 

 

Keith, who remained standing, nodded. “I guess.” 

 

“So you’re the one marrying Lance.” 

 

Keith blanched at the bluntness of the statement. He’d been trying to keep it from his mind since the previous morning. “I guess,” he repeated, this time sounding a little bit more like he was being strangled.

 

“Cool,” was the response he got to that before Hunk paused to take a quick bite of his soup, which, unlike Pidge’s, remained unspilled. Keith had already forgotten about the soup covering his boots, though. He could have them cleaned later, so what was the point in thinking about it? “Lance is a good guy. I’m sure you’ll like him. He’s, well, likeable.”

 

“I hadn’t noticed,” Keith said, only half sarcastically. 

 

“I’m serious,” Hunk said as the sound of their companions’ footsteps returned around the corner. “You might as well give him a chance since you’re going to be, like, married.” 

 

“Don’t remind me,” Keith muttered. 

 

Shiro and Pidge rounded the corner then. They were both laughing at something, which made Keith’s heart clench a little. They looked like natural friends. 

 

“Well,” Shiro said as they made their way back to the table, “Now that I’ve grabbed our food, the Prince and I have to take off. We’re due for training in half an hour.”

 

“Really?” Pidge asked. “But it’s nearly dark already? Isn’t it a little late for training?”

 

Keith had checked out of the conversation. It was  _ never  _ too late for training.  _ No wonder they lost the war.  _

 

“It’s really prime time. The training decks are almost completely empty this time of day, making it perfect for one on one combat training.”

 

“Oh, I see,” Pidge nodded. “Well, have fun then.”

 

As they departed, Shiro handed Keith his food. He started to scarf it down immediately as they walked. Shiro shot him a look, probably because Keith wasn’t exactly eating in a princely manner. Oh well. 

 

When Keith stopped eating momentarily to breathe, Shiro started up conversation again. “So what do you think the Queen wants me to be her attendant for?” He asked, looking ahead down the hall. 

 

Keith snickered. “Maybe she just thinks your muscles are so dreamy,” he said, drawing out the so and batting his eyes at Shiro, clearly the posterchild of mockery. Shiro snorted, nudging Keith with his shoulder.

 

“Please. She’s a queen. She’s not going to look at me and think ‘wow, you know who’s dreamy? That random slave with the fake arm? What a guy.’”

 

Keith shrugged, taking another bite of his food. “You never know,” he teased, but with his mouth still full it sounded more like ‘ew ever ow.’ 

 

Shiro scoffed at him for being so barbaric; clearly Keith should know better. Clearly. “Stop being so uncivilized. No wonder they didn’t recognize that you were the prince.”

 

Keith laughed, momentarily choking on his dinner because of it. Once he coughed and recovered, he managed to speak again. “Hey, you never know. We might both get stuck marrying Alteans.”

 

Shiro’s face brightened a little at the idea. Keith was a little surprised by it, actually. “Well, probably not, but I don’t think I’d really mind being royalty all that much.”

 

“King Shiro of Altea,” Keith practically sang, running a few feet ahead of Shiro so that he could stop and bow. “Your Royal Highness, what an honor it is.”

 

“Knock it off,” Shiro said, but Keith could tell that he was laughing. His laughter was cut short after merely moments, though. 

 

Keith, confused now, turned to see what had caused the abrupt stop. Down the hall he could barely make out a figure tucked away in one of the nooks in the wall, knees pulled up to their chest. The only identifying feature they had was a silver crown, reflecting the purple of the walls. Prince Lance. 

 

“You go on ahead,” Shiro said, ready to abandon Keith in the hall with Lance, it would seem. “Go talk to him.”

 

“I’m going to have the rest of my life to talk to him,” Keith muttered, but Shiro was already going back the way they came. 

  
Keith sighed. Might as well. He walked down the hall, ready to face his future husband. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey everyone! sorry for the delay in this chapter- life comes at you fast when you're graduating high school! speaking of, apologies in advance if there's another two week or so delay with the next chapter; next weekend is prom #2 and the week after that graduation! so i'm a little busy lol. as always, you can catch updates on delays and some future art about this fic on my twitter, @giveshiroabreak ! also if u want to subtweet a hate comment or anything at me, feel free to #twf and I'll make sure to subtweet u back! 
> 
> please leave a comment and kudos if you enjoyed (i read all of the comments, thank you for leaving such lovely ones)! have a good one guys, see you soon.


	4. Wind of Change

Actually, Keith realized about three steps in, he wasn’t ready to face his future husband at all. He wasn’t ready. He wasn’t ready to speak to Prince Lance and he wasn’t sure that he ever would be. Twelve years of bloody, devastating conflict had ended merely weeks ago. If that didn’t spell out disaster for a marriage than Keith had no idea what would. 

 

But, to his dismay, his footsteps sounded off the walls loud enough to make him cringe at the disturbance and then Lance (Keith decided he didn’t need to refer to him by his title; they were going to be married for God’s sake, what was the point?) was turning to face him, looking up from where he carefully sat on the windowsill, one delicate eyebrow traveling up now in a forced arch. Keith didn’t like his expression one bit, but somehow, even annoyance suited Lance’s features. 

 

“Can I help you?” The question was said carefully, and the fact that Lance would only be happy to accept a negative answer was obvious in the bitter tone of his voice. 

 

Keith swallowed, more annoyed at himself for suddenly being nervous than anything else. He’d fought a war against this man’s people, for crying out loud, why on Galra should talking to him make Keith’s heart beat so quickly? 

 

After a moment he realized that he had been staring. Shit. “You looked kind of, well… sad.” 

 

Lance’s eyes narrowed, indicating that this had, in fact, been a really bad thing to say.

 

Oops. 

 

“Excuse me?” Another question asked, this time in an even colder tone. 

 

Keith really wasn’t sure what to say to that, actually. No going back now. “You looked sad. I figured I’d at least make an attempt at caring. After all, we’re engaged.” In hindsight, he probably could have worded that better. 

 

For what it was worth, though, Lance looked more amused than anything. “Ugh, don’t remind me,” was all he said, but the corners of his lips were twitching just a little. That was a good sign. He was amused. Or he had lost it and was laughing at the fact that he was about to pull out a concealed sword and run Keith through with it. Keith hoped it was the first one. 

 

A second passed and Keith was still fully intact, so he decided to test his luck. There was room opposite Lance on the windowsill and he sat down on it so they were facing each other at eye level. If Lance thought anything of it he didn’t say so nor did he show it in his expression. Instead, underneath the overarching layer of what could only really be read as hate, or annoyance at best, he looked curious. Keith found himself wondering what Lance thought his expression looked like. Keith tried to keep it neutral, but his neutral expression always looked a bit… how had Shiro put it? Bitchy? Yeah, he’d said that Keith had RBF, later explained as “Resting Bitch Face.” Keith had tried to not be too offended by that. 

 

He wasn’t really sure what to say to the Altean’s comment, so he just nodded, slightly uncomfortable. 

 

“That was rude of me, wasn’t it?” Lance asked, sighing. What was with him and questions? 

 

“I don’t really care.”

 

“Well, in that case,” Lance said, looking amused yet again, “I believe we might actually get along just fine, dear fiance.”

 

Keith nearly gagged in response to that. His voice came out a little rough, but he managed to say with some clarity, “That’s good.” 

 

This time, Lance laughed. 

 

Shit. 

 

He had a really, really nice laugh. 

 

It wasn’t too loud, but loud enough to resonate off the walls ever so slightly. It was a little bitter, which only made Keith want to hear the real thing. Did all Alteans have really nice laughs or did he just have the misfortune of being forcefully engaged to the one who did? 

 

“Well, gee, I would hope so,” Lance said as his laughter died moments after it had begun. “I mean, obviously we can’t go into this thinking it will be a complete disaster, right?”

 

Normally Keith had a little trouble reading people, but the sarcasm in Lance’s voice and grin were too obvious for even him to miss. He felt a small smile of his own creep onto his face. “Well, yeah,” he said, matching Lance’s sarcasm with his own. “Cause,” he thought of all the battles they both had fought, mostly likely against each other more than once, “we’re obviously so good at getting along, right?” 

 

Lance nodded, his expression full of mock agreement. “Clearly it’s a match written in the stars.”

 

They suddenly both found themselves laughing. Laughing with each other, that is, and not at each other. There was a weird feeling forming in Keith’s chest. He couldn’t decided whether he liked it or not. He was leaning towards the latter. For now, anyways. 

 

As their laughter died they were left in silence, now just kind of studying each other. Keith wasn’t really sure what to make of Lance at this point. Surely he must hate Keith, yet he was sitting here mocking their engagement with the Galra Prince. Keith wanted to ask him what he was thinking, but he wasn’t sure he would like the answer very much. 

 

Another moment passed and they both seemed to realize that they had absolutely no idea what to say to each other. Keith blinked once. Lance blinked twice. 

 

For a moment, they were on the same page, both knowing what the other was thinking? 

 

_ Now what?  _

 

The next morning came and Keith still had no answer to that question. It seemed basic enough: now he married Lance and the alliance was formed. But that still didn’t seem real. It didn’t seem possible, even. 

 

There had to be, he thought with resignation, something he was missing, something Lotor and Allura weren’t telling him. 

 

He buried his face in his pillow in an attempt to clear his head. 

 

It didn’t work. 

 

An hour passed as Keith drifted in and out of a fitful sleep, until a sudden jolt on the bed sent him shooting straight vertically into the air. He may have let out a slightly unprincely shriek of surprise. Normally, he would have jumped and been ready for battle at being startled so much, but perhaps peace  _ was  _ changing him. For the first time in his life, he realized, he hadn’t woken up scared to see what horrors the day may bring. 

 

It quickly became obvious what had woken him. On the other side of the bed, Shiro lay laughing from where he’d harshly flopped down, clearly having had the intent of scaring Keith. In return, Keith grabbed a pillow and whacked him with it, but Shiro simply grabbed it as it hit him and continued chuckling at Keith’s reaction. 

 

“Really graceful, Your Highness,” he said, grinning. 

 

“Bite me,” Keith said, letting his face flop back onto another pillow. He spoke again, but it was too muffled to even come close to being understood. 

 

“Huh?”

 

Keith sighed, turning his head so he could look at Shiro and subsequently talk. “I was mocking that fact that you’re in a good mood.”

 

“Oh, well, good mornings do happen, after all,” was all Shiro said by way of reply.

 

Keith’s eyes narrowed. Then a smug smile graced his features. “So, how was giving the Queen her wakeup call?”

 

“Hilarious,” Shiro said, for once seemingly talking without thinking first, “She looked half as startled as you, but twice as pre-”

 

Keith’s grin became shiteating. “So that’s why you’re in a good mood.”

 

In a repeat of Keith’s earlier words, Shiro said, “Bite me.”

 

“It’s cute,” Keith told him, but his shiteating grin wasn’t going away any time soon. “So, guess being handpicked to be help her out isn’t too bad, huh?”

 

“Bite me,” Shiro said again, but he was still smiling ever so slightly. He sighed, though, his expression falling. “I just think that’s she’s pretty is all. And a really strong leader. I mean, she held out again you as long as she could and only surrendered to save her people. That’s admirable.”

 

While Keith agreed, he didn’t say so, simply because he wasn’t supposed to agree. After all, the Galra saw Queen Allura’s surrender as week.

 

_ We do not stop until victory or death.  _

 

“Besides,” Shiro continued, “It’s not like it can be any more than that. I’m a slave, remember?”

 

Keith raised an eyebrow as if to say,  _ Did you really just ask me that? _

 

Shiro at least looked like he felt a little stupid for asking the question. “Of course you do.” He didn’t say anything else for a moment, making Keith wonder what he was thinking. Anger at being held captive? Probably. Keith had no idea why Shiro hadn’t tried to kill him and escape even once. He was too scared of what the answer might be to ask. It was much more comfortable for Keith to at least pretend they were friends. “Anyways, I’m not worried about it. It’s a silly schoolboy crush, if even that.” 

 

Keith nodded. He actually felt a little guilty. Not that Shiro could have ever had a chance to even look in Queen Allura’s direction let alone get close to her whether he was a slave or not. But still… He felt guilty. He tried to tell himself that he had no reason to be, but it wasn’t working. 

 

Thankfully, Shiro changed the conversation. 

 

Not so thankfully, he changed it to one about Keith’s fiance (somehow the word was slowly starting lose the bitter aftertaste it had been leaving in Keith’s mouth. Not quite, but a little). 

 

“So, how did your conversation with Prince Lance go last night?” Shiro asked, glancing over at Keith out of the corner of his eye so he didn’t have to actually roll over and face him. 

 

Keith sighed. How did it go? “It was… weird,” he settled on before going more into detail, telling Shiro the entire conversation practically word for word. 

 

“Weird,” Shiro agreed when Keith was done, still hugging the pillow Keith had hit him with. Keith had half a mind to take it back, but Shiro seemed happy enough to have it in his arms, so he figured he might as well just leave it to be crushed by a mechanical arm. “Maybe he doesn’t hate you after all.”

 

_ Maybe I don’t hate him, after all.  _ But Keith couldn’t really remember ever hating Prince Lance of Altea, even during the war. He couldn’t really remember even knowing anything about the Prince from before the day of their arrival. He was sure they would have fought the same battles at some point, but, if he was being honest, Keith couldn’t remember even that. 

 

“Which doesn’t make sense.”

 

“Correct.”

 

“Why wouldn’t he hate me?” 

 

“Maybe it’s your overwhelmingly charming personality and good looks,” Shiro said dryly. 

 

Keith hit him with another pillow. “Maybe I just wasn’t reading him right.”

 

Shiro seemed to consider this for a moment and shrugged. Well, he shrugged as best as one could when laying on their back. “I don’t know. Maybe. I doubt it, though. He doesn’t seem like the kind of guy who would outright say those things if it wasn’t sarcastic. Plus, he was laughing.”

 

“What if he was actually just laughing at me?”

 

“Who cares?”

 

“We’re engaged, Shiro. I feel like this is probably a good time to be caring.”

 

“Makes sense.”

 

Keith sighed, staring past Shiro at the wall opposite him. The bare walls still didn’t quite feel like home. He hoped they would soon. “Ugh.” 

 

He couldn’t decide whether or not he cared what Lance thought about him. He didn’t want to, but he did, if only just a little. Keith chalked it up to the fact that they were engaged. He just didn’t want to deal with a spouse who didn’t like him for the rest of his life, that was all. 

 

He glanced back over at Shiro, surprised to see that he was facing him now, studying him. Keith couldn’t read Shiro’s expression, but he thought that he saw maybe a hint of pity in it.

 

“What?” He asked, raising an eyebrow. “What’s that look for?”

 

Shiro shrugged again (it didn’t work as well this time; he looked like he was trying to use his mechanical shoulder to take out his own ear). “How’re you doing? With this whole arranged marriage thing?”

 

Keith wasn’t sure what to say to that. “I…” He didn’t feel anything at all. “I still don’t think it’s real. It doesn’t- it doesn’t seem like it’s really happening. I guess I just haven’t adjusted to it.” Like he still hadn’t quite adjusted to peace.  

 

Shiro nodded, which worked slightly better than the shrugs. He sighed, finally letting go of the pillow and rolling off the bed in a way that was annoyingly graceful. “Get some more rest, Keith.” 

 

Keith wasn’t one to object to this kind of a request. Besides, his eyes still felt tired and his brain did, too. He didn’t mind going back to sleep one bit. 

 

He’d momentarily forgotten about the nightmares. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone! So so so so sorry it's been so long since the last update! I promise I'll try to get the next one up next week, two weeks at most. Now that I've (finally) graduated and my days pretty much consist of eating, sleeping, and being at work far more than I want to be, it shouldn't be quite as hard for me to crank out chapters! 
> 
> As always, please leave a kudos and a comment if you enjoyed! And, please feel free to check out my twitter (like I think I've said every other time rip) @/giveshiroabreak and hmu there and take a look at my art! I post a lot of it! I sell it! 
> 
> Thanks for reading and for being so patient with me!


	5. Jawbreaker

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> quick special thanks to @nextredpaladin !!! my homeboy lance here is the real mvp; putting up with editing this monster of a chapter and all my pestering questions when i got indecisive !! plus he has a really good hamilton fic he just started so if u guys are into that check it out !! (i haven't even listened to all of hamilton and i love it honestly. )

Keith has always had to work twice as hard as the other Galra, at least, that’s what Shiro had gathered over the years he had spent in his service now. He was smaller than all the other Galra that Shiro had encountered; shorter, more lanky and agile. He wasn’t different in the way his brother was, but there was still something about him that made him seem less Galra than the rest. 

 

Maybe it was just because Shiro wanted him to be. 

 

In the war, he’d seen Keith fight for control over his soldiers. Even in a military state just as this one, leaders had to earn their rank and the respect of their soldiers. Keith should have been followed by principal alone; he was a prince. You were supposed to follow the royal family to certain death should they ask you to. But Keith had been small, and one of the youngest in the regiment. He also wasn’t the Crowned Prince. Shiro wasn’t sure that he would have followed orders from him, either, if he hadn’t already been assigned to him for some time. He’d come to see Keith as something… something like a friend, which was absurd. He was a slave and Keith was a prince, but he suspected that Keith had seen him in a similar light for some time now. You couldn’t go through the experiences that they had shared and not forge some sort of bond. The entire regiment shared it. However, the regiment had been broken up for almost a month now and the only soldier Shiro had seen since was Keith.

 

Now, Keith had to work twice as hard to try and match Shiro in this fight. Keith was good in a fight, incredibly so, but Shiro had been a gladiator, and for a long time. He was willing to bet that at this point he could spit in a crowd of Galra soldiers and fight whichever one he hit and would most likely win no matter who he’d hit. They were proper soldiers; they fought with prestige and formality, while Shiro’s time in the Arena had taught him how to fight dirty and honorless. It had saved his life many times, in the arena and after being assigned to Keith. 

 

“You need to be more focused on defense,” Shiro said, sending Keith to his ass for not the first time that day. The alien (well, actually, Shiro supposed he was the alien; he was on their planet, after all) scowled and stood back up, taking a stance to start again. 

 

“Shouldn’t you be off attending to the Queen or something instead right now?” Keith asked, clearly wishing he was anywhere but here. 

 

Shiro rolled his eyes, taking a stance himself before throwing himself at Keith again, swinging for his head. Keith blocked it, landing a good punch at Shiro’s side, but Shiro returned it with a sweep at Keith’s legs, sending the prince sprawling again. “You’re distracted.”

 

“No, I’m not.” He hauled himself back up, but didn’t sound convincing at all. Shiro had had years to learn how to read Keith and it was easy to see through his lies.  

 

“Yes, you are. Is it the party?” 

 

At that, Keith’s scowl deepened. The engagement party, officially announcing the wedding, was just a day away. From what Shiro knew, Keith wasn’t much of a party person. “Can’t I just skip it? He can marry Lotor instead.” 

 

Shiro’s eyes rolled automatically. If they hadn’t been alone he probably would have been punished for that, but Keith wouldn’t do a thing about it. “Yeah, no. Your brother would kill you.” Shiro could already picture Lotor putting his brother’s head on a stick. Lotor seemed charming enough around the Alteans, but Shiro knew better. His arm ached. Well, the space where his arm had been ached. Ghost pains, or something like that, was the Earth term for it. It was annoying. “We can be done for today.”

 

Keith breathed a sigh of relief, one that Shiro doubted he was supposed to see. Keith looked like he was about to say something, but was interrupted by the sound of the door sliding open, a sentry blocking their exit now. Shiro wiped his brow with his metal hand, cool on his skin, waiting for it to speak. 

 

“Shiro,” it’s monotone voice said, “Prince Lotor will see you in his study now.”

 

Shiro raised an eyebrow, exchanging a look with Keith before shrugging. “Okay.” 

 

The walk was short, the midday light from the dual suns making the halls glow red and purple again. Shiro never understood all the red- the colors of the Galra Empire were officially purple and gold. But there was a significant lack of gold in the castle, save for the crowns and cloaks of the royals. He’d never bothered to ask why.

 

Lotor leaned against his desk, white hair pulled back in a braid that lay over his shoulder. Every time Shiro saw him he was reminded of how obnoxiously  _ pretty  _ he was. He didn’t look Galra, save for the purple hue of his skin and the unnerving glowing golden eyes. His ears weren’t animal-like, instead they looked almost Altean. His skin was void of fur, smooth like a humans. There’d always been rumors floating around surrounding the Regent Prince’s heritage, some going as far as to claim that he hadn’t been the King’s child at all, but rather a bastard child of the Queen’s affair. Those rumors were quickly snuffed out. 

 

“Shiro.” There was an unsettling look in Lotor’s already empty eyes. Shiro thought that maybe his eyes were narrowed, too. 

 

“You have been assigned to the Queen’s guard for the duration of her stay.”

 

Shiro bit his lip to keep from pointing out that he already knew that, thanks to Hunk and Pidge after their chat in the kitchens. He stayed silent. 

 

Lotor moved closer, but Shiro stayed still, even as a clawed hand grabbed his chin, claws nearly breaking the skin. He was fuming with anger now, the narrowing of Lotor’s eyes a reminder of the slave he was. He was powerless to fight back; he was merely a thing that could be given or rented out at any whim the prince had. It was maddening. 

 

“Why,” Lotor’s voice drawled in a way that Shiro might have compared to Southern were he still on Earth, “Do you think the princess has displayed such an interest in you?”

 

Shiro said nothing. 

 

In a moment, Lotor’s hand was releasing his chin and hitting his face, the slap whipping Shiro’s head to the side, his ear ringing. But he stood his ground, refusing to react. He was a slave, but he was still a stubborn son of a bitch when he wanted to be.

 

“You. Will. Answer. Me. When. I. Ask. You. A. Question.” Lotor’s teeth were gritted, clearly angry. Good. Let him be.

 

“I wouldn’t know,  _ Your Highness,”  _ Shiro said, his tone clearly indicating that “Your Highness” was meant to be taken as an insult. 

 

Lotor sneered. “So I am to believe that you have had no previous interaction with the Prin- with the Queen?”

 

Shiro was too smart to talk back when Lotor’s expression looked like that. Like a predator’s. “I have never spoken to her.” 

 

Lotor slapped him again, this time with enough strength behind it that it would surely bruise. “Don’t lie to me, Champion. It’s because of me that you aren’t still fighting in the Arena.”

 

“But I belong to your brother. Not you,” Shiro said, speaking before he had a chance to think about it. 

 

Lotor’s sneer turned quickly into a scowl that reminded him of Keith’s momentarily. Sometimes it was hard to remember they were brothers, even after declaring it moments before. They were so different. They were both lean and agile, but Keith was more obviously Galra, both in appearance and nature. While he ran headfirst into a fight, relying only on instinct, Lotor was cunning and thoughtful, using his brain before his brawn. He, in Shiro’s mind, was more dangerous than Keith. Keith would pick a fight quickly and would make an incredibly difficult opponent to anyone, but Lotor would know how to beat you before ever entering the ring. 

 

Shiro waited for Lotor to hit him again, but before he could react there was a hand to his neck and his back was hitting the wall, his feet no longer touching the ground. Lotor had lifted him up nearly half a foot, enough so they could be at eye level. “I,” he said, voice surprisingly calm, “do not care. You belong to my brother, but my brother belongs to  _ me.  _ Keep that in mind the next time you think about running your mouth.” The hand on his throat tightened it’s grip, Shiro now nearly gasping for air. He felt panic trying to wave over him, but he refused to let it take hold. He knew that Lotor wouldn’t kill him, not after the Queen had requested his appointment. Lotor had a terrible temper, but he wasn’t a fool. 

 

At least, Shiro hoped he wasn’t. 

 

He was right. Just as he’d started to see black spots, Lotor released him, dropping him to a harsh landing that sent shockwaves up his shins. The scowl on the royal’s face was replaced with a perplex look as he once again snatched Shiro’s jaw, this time tilting it up and to the side. “I forgot how easily your kind breaks,”  he said, which meant that Shiro was most likely already starting to bruise where Lotor had choked him. “You will wear a pictus around the Princess until it heals. If I find out that she has any suspect of this you will not be happy.” 

 

A pictus was a bandana, simply put. It would easily cover his face from the nose down, hiding any marks Lotor’s claws had met and the evidence that he’d pinned Shiro to the wall by his neck. Shiro could take one from Keith and the Galra Prince would probably never notice. 

 

He waited quietly, waiting for more orders. 

 

“Dismissed.” 

 

 

Keith hadn’t seen Shiro for the rest of the day after Lotor summoned him. He tried not to think about it too much. He was probably off attending to Allura. Still, Keith was… lonely. Ugh. He was a soldier, he wasn’t supposed to be lonely. It was a weakness. Even if they weren’t at war anymore. Keith refused to let himself get too comfortable, even though he already felt himself falling into a routine. 

 

This morning was slightly different, simply because it started later than it should have. Sleep had taken forever to take him under and his routine suffered from it when he woke up hours after he should have. Shit. 

 

Yet, he didn’t get out of bed, despite the late hour. Keith laid in bed, surrounded by his huge blanket and the light mostly blocked out by large, decorative curtains. The curtains in his room were the closest thing the Galra had to art. There were battle depictions on them, mostly, a graphic display of history. Keith had never really paid them much attention as a child and wasn’t about to start. 

 

He stayed in bed for nearly an hour, wishing that he could stay there in the dark all day. Instead, he would have to get up, wear too much regal clothing, and attend a party. For his engagement. To Lance. 

 

Keith hated parties. 

 

And, of course, the fact that he was getting engaged. 

 

What he didn’t hate was his fiance. Maybe. He wasn’t sure. He hadn’t seen too much of Lance since their talk in the nook, only once or two a day. Sometimes Lance would stick his tongue out at Keith when they passed in the hall, other times he would wink. Sometimes they spoke. Every conversation left Keith feeling more and more amused. Lance was actually charming, to his surprise. He had made Keith laugh more than once now, which was unusual. 

 

He pulled the blanket over his head. 

 

Sadly, his peace didn’t get too last forever, as only minutes later there was a sharp knock on his door. It wasn’t Shiro, then. Shiro never bothered to knock, the upstart. He really was a terrible slave sometimes. Hallelujah. 

 

Keith rolled out of bed in a way that could not be considered graceful in any way, making his way over to the door and throwing it open. One of Lotor’s bodyguards was on the other side of the door, looking bored. 

 

“Yes?” 

 

“Your brother was worried when you did not lunch nor the kitchens and sent me to make sure you were okay,” the guard told him. 

 

“Tell him I’m still alive and kicking,” Keith replied, rolling his eyes. What Lotor really wanted was to make sure Keith hadn’t done something stupid that would postpone the party. He could pretend it was concern all he wanted, but Keith wasn’t an idiot. 

 

 

The guard simply gave a robotic nod, turning to leave. Keith reentered his room, flopping back down onto his bed with an audible groan. 

 

He didn’t want to get married. Certainly not to an Altean. He was supposed to hate them. Lotor still did, no matter how hard he tried to hide it with a charming smile. Keith could see through it. Lotor would have much preferred to blow all of Altea to pieces and tear the empire apart planet by planet. Sometimes the idea didn’t seem to bad to Keith. At least, he’d felt that way before the negotiations. 

 

Now he wasn’t so sure anymore. 

 

He wanted to go train, his hands were itching to get ahold of a sword, but it was too late for that now. He didn’t have time. 

 

He was filled with unreasonable dread. He’d survived thousands of battles- air and ground alike. So why was a party making him so uneasy? It was nothing, just a social event, b. But he felt like he was going to vomit. 

 

He pulled his blanket over his head again. 

 

Eventually, Shiro came through the door. Keith didn’t bother to crawl out from under the covers, even as Shiro sat beside him on the bed. “Come on, Keith. You have to get ready now.” The human’s voice was gentle yet stern. It made Keith want to listen, made him want to do as he said. Shiro, he had realized long ago, could be an excellent leader one day. Or, he could have been. If he hadn’t been taken from the Altean prison camp and thrown into the Arena and slavery. It made Keith’s throat tighten with guilt.

 

“If it makes you feel any better, I saw Prince Lance on the way here.” That sparked Keith’s interest. “He looks just as miserable as you.”

 

“Can’t wait for the happily ever after then,” Keith said, but it was muffled by his blanket. He could barely understand himself, so Shiro had no hope. He moved the blanket from his face, starting to speak again, then raising a questioning eyebrow as he saw the pictus on Shiro’s face. It was almost flattering; the dark color of the pictus almost matched the color of Shiro’s eyes. “Why are you wearing that?”

 

For a moment Shiro looked confused, like he’d forgotten that he was wearing it. “Oh, right,” he said, untying the back to show Keith. 

 

Keith sucked in a sharp breath in reaction to the bruises around Shiro’s neck, the puncture marks on his skin. He almost asked what had happened, but after inching closer and giving the bruises a second look it was easy to see their cause. “Did my brother do this?”

 

“I… wasn’t careful with my words,” Shiro said, shrugging as he tied the pictus around his neck once more. 

 

Keith wasn’t sure what to say to that, but Shiro saved him the trouble. 

 

“All right,” he said, standing up again, “It’s time to get up and get ready. No if, ands, or buts.” 

 

Keith groaned, but he rolled out of bed.

 

An hour later, he was standing in the middle of a ballroom, trying to not be too miserable. It wasn’t working. To be in uniform during peace and among their former enemies felt rude and uncomfortable and he was constantly worried that one wrong step would cause him to trip over the gold cape he was required to wear. It was identical to his brother’s, but sadly, Keith had had to get his hemmed once it became clear that he was destined to be the shortest Galra of all time. At least it felt that way. And it so far there hadn’t been much evidence to the contrary. To be short enough to look an Altean in the eyes was seen as disgraceful, but here Keith was. Barely his fiance’s height.

 

Speaking of whom, Keith had yet to even glimpse his future husband. Perhaps he was caught by well wishers. But Keith doubted it. Maybe he wasn’t the one Lotor should be worrying about, after all. 

 

He had, sadly, seen plenty of his brother this far. Lotor was currently engaged in conversation with Queen Allura, Shiro trailing not too far behind. The shorter member of the Alteans, Pidge, was at his heels. Hunk wasn’t too far behind, Keith saw now, at the top of the staircase with-

 

Lance. 

 

As Keith looked over, Lance glanced his way. The eye contact they made was so uncomfortable that Keith felt choked by it. Lance looked away, but… was coming down the stairs. Keith considered making a break for it, but it was too late. And wasn’t worth the wrath of his brother. Even though he really, really didn’t want to be at this party. 

 

Lance found him before he could act on any silly whim, however. “Hey there fiance.”

 

“Hey,” Keith replied. The word sounded unhappy and forced.

 

“Not a party person, are you?” Lance asked. He looked amused at Keith’s discomfort. Dick.

 

Keith shook his head, sighing and wishing the drink in his hand had more alcohol in it. “Definitely not. Ever.”

 

Lance, surprisingly, laughed at that. He had a really nice laugh. Shit. “Why am I not surprised?” 

 

Keith felt momentarily annoyed at being predictable, but just sighed. “It’s tedious. And I don’t even like these people.”

 

“I don’t even know these people,” Lance agreed, taking a sip of his own drink. 

 

A moment of awkwardness passed before Lance said, “We should just sneak out.”

 

Keith had been trying to take a sip of his drink, but now he choked on it. “ _ Excuse me?” _

 

“You heard me,” Lance said, casually. Too casually, as if he’d been planning this conversation. Keith’s eyes narrowed automatically. “Let’s sneak out.”

 

“And go where?” 

 

“I don’t know. We could find a balcony or something and get some fresh air. Or we could sneak out and explore the city,” Lance said, clearly in favor of the second option. 

 

Keith weighed both options in his mind. On one hand, he could go outside and spend a few minutes with Lance and then return to the party. On the other, he could escape for the night and see the city he’d grown up in at night for the first time in seven years. He’d already made his appearance at the party, he reasoned. No one would miss him. Right?

 

And honestly, he just wanted to leave. Fuck Lotor and his treaty. Keith was suffocating in the crowd of wellwishers. 

 

“Let’s do it,” he said, already turning on his heels. He missed the look of surprise on Lance’s face. “We’ll have to go from the roof, of course. We’ll be least likely to get caught that way.”

 

Lance had to jog for a second to catch up with his quick pace. He was practically bouncing with excitement. Keith thought he saw him make a hand motion at Hunk out of the corner of his eye, but he wasn’t sure. Maybe a thumbs up? Why would he be doing that? 

 

He had the rest of their lives to figure Lance out, but he wasn’t sure he could.

 

Keith looked over at him as they cleared the main ballroom, glancing back to make sure no one was following them. “We’ll have to go through my window,” he said. 

 

“Thank Quiznak,” Lance said, grinning at Keith and taking a sip of the drink still in his hand. “I was not going to go with you with you wearing that.”

 

He was gesturing towards Keith’s cape. Keith couldn’t blame him. He hated the thing, but he had to wear it. All of them- Lotor, his father, his mother before her death- had to. It was a symbol of status. Still, he rolled his eyes at Lance’s comment. Lance returned the gesture by sticking his tongue out at Keith. 

 

They didn’t take long to get to Keith’s room. He through the heavy cape off and searched until he found a dark, light hooded cloak that would work much better. He also found some clothes for Lance to wear while the Altean looked around the room.

 

“It’s so… empty,” Lance said, looking confused.

 

Keith shrugged. “I haven’t been here in years.”

 

“Really?”

 

“Yeah.”

 

They lapsed into silence for a moment before Keith remembered the clothes he had for Lance. In his Altean getup, Lance would surely get them caught. “Here.” 

 

Lance wrinkled his nose at the dark clothes, vastly different from his own. “Seriously?”

 

“I,” Keith said, giving Lance a pointed look, “am not going anywhere with you wearing that.”

 

Lance pouted, clearly not happy to have his words thrown in his face. Keith went out into the hall to give him some privacy. The Altean garbage Lance had been wearing had seemed like a hassle to get off, so he wasn’t in too much of a hurry. Still, when he say a guard turn around the corner, he really wished he’d just been an ass and stayed in the room. 

 

He tried to flatten himself to the wall to avoid being seen, but, of course, it didn’t work. 

 

The guard stopped, looking confused before realizing who Keith was, quickly saluting him. “Your Highness,” he greeted as he lowered his hand.

 

“Hi,” Keith said, sounding a little like what he imagined spacekill might look like. 

 

“May I inquire what you are doing away from the party, sir?” The guard asked. Keith caught a glimpse of the badge on the sleeve of his uniform. He was one of Lotor’s. 

 

Keith shrugged as casually as he could. “It’s alright. I’m just, um… up here to use the bathroom.”

 

The guard tilted his head to the side. “Are there not lavatories located downstairs, sir?”

 

“I mean, there are, but I like mine better,” he said, his voice making it sound like he was stating the obvious. 

 

The guard gave him a curious look, but bowed before he moved to continue his route. When he was out of sight, Keith let out a breath and opened his door, not giving a damn if Lance was ready or not. There was a yelp on the other side as it became clear that Lance had been listening on the other side. 

 

“Is there actually a bathroom here?” Lance asked, taking another look around the room as if he was trying to find it.

 

“No,” Keith told him, wasting no time to open the window. Lance snorted as he followed him.

 

The castle had no balconies, so Keith had learned how to scale down the walls at a young age. It had taken him ages to get used to. Thankfully, his room was only a couple floors up, so he’d only ever broken his arm in an attempt. As he opened the window, fresh air hit him with a new wave of energy. It was a little cold, so the uniform and cloak seemed to be justified. 

 

He turned to Lance, pulling the hood over his head. “I’ll go first. Wait for me to get to the bottom, I’ll catch you if you fall.”

 

“I will  _ not  _ fall,” Lance said, clearly offended at the statement. It was written all over his face. So far, Keith had seen that Lance was fairly easy to read. At least Keith knew that about him. 

 

Keith didn’t respond. Instead, he flung himself over the side of the window, reaching out a hand to catch himself on the windowsill before he could fall. As he started to descend he heard Lance mutter, “Show off,” under his breath. Keith couldn’t help but crack a smile. 

 

He hit the ground in less than a minute, looking up to see the other prince already on his way down. Clearly he wasn’t good at doing what he was told. Keith decided that was a good thing. Thankfully, Lance managed to keep from falling, dropping down next to him with an annoying amount of grace.

 

“Well? Lead the way,” he said, gesturing for Keith to move as if it should be obvious. He supposed it should be. 

 

They were practically silent, both taking care to not get caught. That could make for some awkward conversations that they would both like to avoid. 

 

Keith kept glancing over at Lance as they ran across the grounds. He really was handsome. 

 

Keith kept running. 

 

The city, they found, was partying, too. Wonderful. 

 

“I guess we’re just so great that everyone wants to celebrate us,” Lance commented dryly as they were getting close to the first street outside the grounds. “Or your people have sticks so far up their asses that even this engagement warrants a party. 

 

He didn’t even bothering to try and retort. His empire was a military party, of course the citizens would want an excuse to relax every once and awhile. He still muttered, “Bite me,” though.

 

“Kinky,” Lance muttered back. 

 

Keith’s eyes widened in response to that, sputtering to respond. But Lance just laughed at him again. Lance laughed a lot. It was nice. Weird, but nice. 

 

They were almost to the hub of the festival now. The music, loud and brash and wildly inappropriate for royalty , got louder as they approached. It seemed to shake the streets, as did the shouts and cheers of the Galra gathered to party. Once they’d made it to the outskirts Keith’s eyes widened, as did Lance’s beside him. He had never seen a party like this. There were bodies everywhere, for starters, packed together instead of respectfully distanced. The music was so loud that he would probably have to shout to be heard over it. The few lights that were spread throughout the streets were dim. To be fair, Galra had fairly decent night vision, but it was still dark as all hell. Plus, the closer they got, the stronger the smell of alcohol became. 

 

“This is awesome!” Lance declared, and the next thing Keith knew, there was a hand clutching at his and he was being pulled forward into the crowd. 

 

“This seems like a really ba-” He started to say, before stopping himself. They had already snuck out. They might as well enjoy it while they can. Right?

 

“Bad idea,  I know,” Lance finished when Keith cut himself off, “I know. Too bad, we’re partying.” 

 

They were in the crowd now, Lance tugging him through the throng of bodies. He seemed to be moving with purpose, but Keith had no idea where he was trying to go. The street had become completely unrecognizable over the years since he’d last been here. It made his heart ache a little. He didn’t have many fond memories of the place, as he spent most of his time on the palace grounds, but he had spent time here. He’d grown up here. And it was completely different.

 

If Lance noticed his sudden melancholy, he didn’t say anything. Instead, the Altean looked back at him with a grin that made Keith’s heartbeat spike. “Come on, let’s get drinks.”

 

Another bad idea. 

 

Just like their engagement. 

 

Somehow Lance found a booth that smelled so strongly of alcohol that it left Keith sneezing by the time they’d gotten cups, Lance laughing at him the whole time. It was a good thing Lance had a nice laugh or Keith would already be filing for divorce with how much time he spent doing it. Seriously, how could one person laugh so much? It was insane. 

 

Lance, who had only just let go of his hand to grab the drinks, handed Keith his. “Cheers,” Lance said, already starting to sip from it.

 

“What is it?” Keith asked, eyeing it warily. It was dark and smelled sweet. 

 

“No idea,” Lance said cheerfully. “Just drink it. It’s not going to kill you. If it was poison, everyone here would be dead.” 

 

Keith guessed he really couldn’t disagree with that and took a sip. It actually wasn’t terrible. It had a terrible bite, though, and he had to hold back a cough. 

 

“Well?” Lance asked, prompting him.

 

“It’s not awful,” Keith said, shrugging. Lance gave him an exasperated sigh in return, rolling his eyes. He still looked amused, though. 

 

God, he was cute. 

 

Keith realized that he was staring and took another sip of his drink. He turned a little to look out at the crowd. So many Galra were packed into one small place, bodies pressed together and busting some dance moves that would make any of Keith’s advisors eyes cry blood if they were here. The music was entirely foreign to him. It was loud and violent and annoyingly catchy. He looked back to Lance to find the prince watching him. 

 

“What?” Keith asked, raising an eyebrow. 

 

“Nothing,” Lance said, trying to hide a grin. “It’s just… You look so awestruck is all. It’s cute.”

 

Keith snorted at that. “Cute?” He repeated. He wasn’t cute. Still, his face felt a little warmer now. He took a sip of his drink.

 

Lance reached over and pushed the hood of Keith’s cloak back, his fingers barely brushing one of his ears in the process. Keith found himself not flinching away, even though he normally would. Lance just smiled. “There, now I can actually see you.” 

 

Keith found that he didn’t have an answer to that. Thankfully, he didn’t need one. “Finish your drink,” Lance suddenly instructed, before quickly downing the rest of his. When he saw that Keith hadn’t done the same he started pouting again. “Come on, I want to dance.”

 

Keith felt his eyes widening again as he looked back from the dancing to Lance. For a second he thought the prince was joking, but one look back at the Altean confirmed that he was very much serious. So Keith downed the rest of his drink. It must have been strong- he could already feel it clouding his mind. He knew they were being even stupider now, adding alcohol onto sneaking out and now the completely inappropriate dancing. He didn’t care. He wasn’t sure what had more to do with that: the buzz of the alcohol in his brain or Lance’s grin. He wasn’t sure that he cared anymore. 

 

Lance dragged him out into the center. There were people all around and for a minute, Keith was having fun. He liked the way Lance was dancing, somehow making the awful moves look graceful and, well, sexy. He liked the way Lance winked at him and pulled him closer, their faces inches apart, Lance’s breath warm when it hit Keith’s lips. He liked the way that Lance somehow made him start to move to the music, too, the two of them moving as one, eye to eye and Lance’s ever present grin widening with each sway and each time one of them was hit by another Galra and pushed closer to the other. And he really liked the way Lance’s hands found their way to the front of his cloak, using it to pull Keith even closer and didn’t let go, mischievous eyes glinting in the poor lighting. And he really, really liked the way Lance gave up completely, yanking on the cloak until they were completely pressed together, and then Keith liked the way Lance let go and grabbed his face, pressing their lips together. He liked the way that he could feel Lance smiling into the kiss. He didn’t like it so much when Lance pulled away. 

 

Maybe being engaged to Lance wasn’t so bad after all. 

 

He had barely had time to think that before Lance had pulled him back in for another one. 

 

“I think I like this party better,” Lance said when he broke away again, still only inches apart. 

 

Keith nodded in agreement, for once matching Lance’s grin with a smaller one of his own. “Yeah, me too.” 

 

The song ended as this time Keith initiated the kiss, another one starting. It made Keith’s blood freeze in his veins, finding himself suddenly still. Lance noticed almost immediately, pulling away and taking Keith’s face in his hands. 

 

“Keith?” He asked, all concern and wide eyes. “Are you okay? Keith?”

 

Keith didn’t respond. He realized that he couldn’t breathe- he couldn’t breathe. He knew this song. Of all the songs they could have played, it had to be this one. 

 

_ “Do you know this song?” _

 

_ “No? Start it again.” _

 

_ “Jeez. For a royal you have no sense of culture?” _

 

“Keith?” Lance asked again, his voice much more urgent again. Keith could only half see the Altean in front of him and he still couldn’t breathe. Without saying anything else, Lance grabbed his hand again and started to pull him through the crowd. People kept bumping into them, laughing. 

 

_ “It’s okay.” _

 

_ “You know-” _

 

_ Boom.  _

 

_ Boom.  _

 

_ Boom.  _

 

Keith wasn’t sure whether the booms were explosions or his own heart, pounding in his chest. It felt like he was suffocating. The only thing that felt real was Lance’s hand over his as he pulled Keith along. 

 

_ “Sir, the left hangar was damaged.” _

 

_ “Fire back!” _

 

_ “Would someone please turn that damn song off?” _

 

_ Silence.  _

 

_ Screaming. _

 

_ Another boom. _

 

_ “Keith- Keith?” _

 

_ “Mom?” _

 

There was a sudden blast of cold air as the crowd suddenly disappeared around Keith, he and Lance now at the edge of it. He was vaguely aware that Lance had turned to face him again, and looked incredibly concerned. 

 

“Keith?”

 

_ “Keith?” _

 

“Keith!”

 

_ “Keith!” _

 

Keith just wanted to be able to breathe again. 

 

“Deep breaths,” Lance was saying, suddenly moving them out of the way. The next thing Keith knew he was sitting, his head on Lance’s shoulder as he stared out into the darkness. 

 

“Breathe in…”

 

_ The music still hadn’t stopped.  _

 

“Breathe out…”

 

_ Where’d his mom go? _

 

“Breathe in…”

 

_ Why was it so dark? _

 

“Breathe out…”

 

_ What was that smell among the smoke? _

 

“Breathe in…”

 

The images and sounds in Keith’s mind were starting to fade as he finally began to steady his breath to Lance’s instructions. 

 

“Better?” Lance finally asked after several minutes of instructing Keith to breathe. 

 

Keith took another deep breath. “Yeah.”

 

“What happened?” Lance asked, resting his head on top of Keith’s now. Keith liked the proximity. Despite the actual situation, he liked sitting with Lance like this. The rest of it? Not so much.

 

“I don’t know,” he admitted. “One minute I was fine and then… I just couldn’t breathe.”

 

He didn’t want to say any more than that. He didn’t understand it and he also just… didn’t want to talk about it.

 

“Oh,” Lance said simply. “Guess I really kissed took the words right out of your mouth. Er, air, I guess.”

 

Keith smiled at that.

 

“I’ll have to add that to my list of talents,” Lance continued cheerfully, “Being literally breathtaking. You know…”

 

Lance kept talking. His voice wasn’t soft, but it was soothing. Keith felt like he could sit there for hours and not get tired of hearing Lance’s voice. It was so strange to think about how infrequently they had seen each other up until this point. Then again, this night already felt so long. 

 

Was this what the rest of his life was going to be like when he was married to Lance? The more time he spent with the other prince, the less it seemed like a horrible fate. 

 

Lance was still talking. 

 

Everything was okay.

 

Keith thought that the next explosion was just in his mind, too. It didn’t faze him at all.

 

Until Lance shrieked in surprise.

 

Until they saw smoke coming from the castle grounds.

 

This explosion was real. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thank you all so much for reading! and thank you so much to everybody who's left kudos and/or a comment! it means so much to me, really. i know i don't reply to many comments, but trust me, reading them makes my whole week! 
> 
> also i hope this chapter makes up for the last one being so short a little. 
> 
> please leave a kudos and a comment if you liked it! i really want to know what you all thought of this chapter; i wrote it all in one sitting oops and it was my favorite to write. 
> 
> as always, feel free to hmu on twitter or tumblr with any questions!


	6. Into the Fire

Keith had never ran faster in his life. He was vaguely aware of Lance behind him, doing his best to keep up with him. He should probably have been more observant of the world around them, but Keith had succumbed to tunnel vision the second they had heard the deafening roar of explosives at the castle. The party had descended into chaos around them, but by a miracle, the princes managed to stay together until they had reached the path from which they came. Up ahead, smoke was funneling into the sky. Keith felt sick to his stomach when he realized the source of it. It had to be the ballroom they had escaped from. It couldn’t have been more than a little over an hour, but it felt like it had been years since Keith had left it. 

 

He didn’t remember this being such a long run. 

 

The grounds were a blur until they reached the front entrance, the doors still open from when they were letting people in. 

 

Keith’s heart was pounding as they ran through the halls, wishing the ballroom were closer to the front. But finally, they reached it, and it was just as he feared- smoke had filled the room, but there wasn’t the kind of chaos he would have expected. Instead, there was talking, and crying, but no shouting or screaming. They must be too late for that.

 

Finding the source of the explosion wasn’t hard at all. In the far corner there was a gaping hole in the structure, a column laying in pieces. Beside it was a group of people, huddled together. They must have been the wounded, with medics still dressed for the party hovering over them. Keith felt sick to his stomach as he watched one Altean shake his head, standing up and walking away from the body of a Galra woman. Despite the distance, Keith could tell that she was young. 

 

“Lance!” 

 

The voice of the Queen was piercing and she came out of nowhere, tackling her cousin with a sob. “Oh my goodness,” she was saying, hugging him tight, “I was so worried when we couldn’t find you- don’t you ever do that to me again, you hear me?” She kept babbling like that, Lance looking over her at Keith with an expression of pure guilt. 

 

Keith could stay and watch the touching reunion, but he had his own family to find. Well, his family and Shiro. If he was honest, though, he found himself more worried about his friend than his brother or father. Perhaps that made him a horrible person, but he didn’t have time to care about that now. He searched with his eyes at first, looking for a shock of white hair. He didn’t see it long or short, so both were still missing. 

 

It was actually Shiro who found him first, placing a hand on his shoulder. Keith jumped at least fifty feet in the air, spinning on his toes to see who it was. Despite himself, he found his arms around Shiro. He wasn’t sure why he was so desperate to express his relief now; they’d fought a war together. There had always been the possibility of loss looming over their heads, so Keith had thought he might be prepared to lose Shiro. But then he’d gotten too comfortable to peace and the idea was scary again, even though it had never stopped being so. He just wasn’t numb to the idea anymore. 

 

Shiro returned the hug, but Keith could feel how tense his muscles still were. Keith couldn’t blame him. There was a lump forming in his throat. “What happened?” He managed to ask, but he didn’t let go just yet.

 

Shiro was the first to pull back, probably more concerned with the image of the prince hugging him right after the explosion than the actual prince was. He had always been more sensible with perception and more self aware, too. “There was an explosion,” he said, as if that hadn’t been obvious. Keith was grateful that Shiro didn’t ask any questions about where he’d been and instead just kept talking. “No one knows anything yet.” 

 

“The culprit hasn’t been caught?” Keith asked, eyebrows furrowing. With the tight security of the castle he was infinitely surprised that there was no one in the guard’s custody yet. 

 

Shiro shook his head. “Not yet. Your brother, however, has assured everyone that the security are doing their best to find them.” 

 

“So Lotor is okay?” Keith asked, wishing he didn’t feel so apathetic. 

 

“Yeah he’s fine,” Shiro confirmed with a nod. “Got his ponytail in a twist, but he’s fine. He and the Queen weren’t anywhere near the explosion when it happened.”

 

Oh, right. Shiro had most likely been with them, then, waiting on the Queen Allura like he had been assigned to do. Keith had momentarily forgotten about that. He wondered if Shiro was supposed to be with her now, but he was glad that he wasn’t. 

 

Now that the initial shock of the event was fading, worry and fear were being replaced by anger and frustration. He couldn’t believe that whoever did this was still on the loose. What if they were planning another attack? Keith wouldn’t put it past anyone to set off another bomb at any moment now, attacking before they had a chance to recover. It was a tactic he found cruel and vile, but it was one both his brother and the Alteans had used many times in the war. Keith, however, had never stooped to what he saw as that low a level. He had never thought there was a need. War was war, but savagery was another.

 

For the time being, however, it seemed that the castle was safe from explosions. Keith knew that, although he couldn’t see them himself, there were bomb squads grooming every inch of the building beside the guards who were searching for the proprietor. He wished that that could make him feel any better, but it didn’t. He frowned without realizing it, scanning the room again with a subtle gaze. He had to tear his yellow eyes away from the group of medics hovering over by the wall where the initial explosion had been. Now that the excitement was starting to fade they were being joined by onlookers. Curiosity was a trait shared by every people it seemed. 

 

Shiro seemed to follow his gaze for a minute before putting a hand on the Prince’s shoulder, squeezing it gently for a moment before releasing it. “The guards are doing everything they can,” he said, trying to be reassuring. Keith appreciated the effort, but that was about all the good it was doing. His people were in pain and he wanted to act, but he wasn’t dumb enough to think Lotor would ever let him join the patrols now. In war Keith had been allowed to take as much control as he wanted, to lead as he pleased. But in peace it was his job to be nothing more than a backup prince and it wouldn’t do to have him running off and getting in trouble. Not to mention it would make Lotor look bad if his little brother was helping the effort and he wasn’t. 

 

“Besides,” Shiro continued, “If they really thought it was going to be a hard catch they would be accepting more help. They wouldn’t even let me give them a hand.”

 

He looked annoyed about that. Keith couldn’t blame him. His skin was practically crawling from standing around and doing nothing. He felt anxious and annoyed. 

 

He felt his brother’s presence before he saw him. It felt like a weight was pressing on his shoulders and he turned. Sure enough, there was Lotor, nearly at his side now. His hair was somehow still perfect, not a strand out of place. Keith hadn’t even been present for the chaos, but he doubted his even looked half as good as it had when he’d left the party earlier. He’d been running, but he bet that if their positions were reversed Lotor would still look just as put together. It was aggravating. 

 

The older prince had a look of simple irritation on his face, but Keith could see that there was something deeper that he was burying. It showed in his eyes. He stopped in front of Keith, who was starting to wish he was just about anywhere else at this point. Lotor’s lips pulled back into a sneer, making Keith stand up a little bit taller. 

 

“Brother,” he said, refusing to refer to Keith by his name, as per usual, “How nice of you to finally join us.”

 

Keith had to use all of his willpower to keep his eyes from rolling. It took a serious effort. “I came as fast as I could,” he simply said, not acknowledging that he should have been at the party during the explosion anyways. Trying to move on, he continued. “Have they caught the offender yet?”

 

Lotor shook his head. “No. But I suspect they are getting close now. If not they are all going to be searching for new jobs by sunrise.” 

 

Keith would have felt worse for them if he wasn’t so agitated waiting around. He needed to be doing something, but there was nothing for him to do but wait. He couldn’t even go and check on the wounded; the medics would usher him away in an instant. 

 

Lotor’s eyes narrowed suddenly, staring behind Keith. “Queen Allura.”

 

Sure enough, a turn of his head revealed the Queen herself to be standing behind Keith. She looked so tired, but only if one was really paying attention. Keith could just see the slump of her shoulders, the worn look in her eyes, the tenseness behind her smile. Shiro, however, seemed to be standing up straighter. It was a little amusing, actually.

 

“Prince Lotor,” she returned, but nodding at both the princes. It would have been inappropriate for her to greet Shiro since he was a slave, but Keith caught her glancing over at him anyways. Her eyes lingered a little longer than they probably should have, but no one was going to say anything. “Have you any news?”

 

Again, Lotor shook his head. “I do not. However, I expect to hear a report from my guards at any moment.”

 

The Queen sighed, nodding ever so slightly. “I see. I do hope they find the culprit before long. I’d hate to think that someone is trying to cause harm to our peoples.”

 

Keith snorted, but quickly disguised it as a cough. For twelve years all they had done was cause harm to each other’s peoples. He caught Shiro’s eyes, seeing the smile that was tugging at his friend’s lips at the horrible attempt of hiding the snort. Keith stuck his tongue out at him before remembering that Queen Allura and his brother were still present.

 

In fact, there was only one person missing. Where was Lance? Keith wasn’t sure what he felt, exactly, for the Altean prince, but at this moment he found himself wishing that he were here. He tried to not think into that too much. He was tempted to ask the Queen, but, as if summoned by Keith’s thoughts, he didn’t have to. Someone was tapping the young prince’s shoulder and he turned to find himself standing face to face with his fiance. 

 

The others seemed to fade into the background when their eyes met, Keith only being able to focus on the man in front of him, whose dark blue eyes were shining with worry and something else that Keith couldn’t quite place. 

 

“No news?” Lance asked. His fingers were still drumming on Keith’s shoulder, which was a little irritating. Still, he didn’t try to shake them off. 

 

Instead, Keith simply nodded. “Nothing yet.” 

 

“Actually,” Lotor said over them, looking over his brother’s head into the crowd, “I think that might be about to change.”

 

A guard was walking towards them, moving with obvious purpose. It was easy to see how tense he was, how hard he was working to keep from sprinting. He was a well trained soldier, but it was obvious that he had news he wanted to get to the Regent Prince immediately. Keith felt his chest tighten as he approached, hoping for good news. Lance’s fingers dropped from his shoulder, giving his hand a quick squeeze before dropping it. Keith didn’t even react to that, too focused on the Galra soldier approaching them.

 

“Well?” Lotor asked, barely waiting until the man was in earshot. “What is it?”

 

“We have reason to believe that we know who the traitor is,” the man said, bouncing from foot to foot. Okay, maybe he wasn’t as well trained as Keith had originally thought. But, traitor? Did that mean whoever had planted the bomb had been Galra? The thought made Keith’s stomach turn. 

 

“And?” Lotor asked, his teeth gritting. Clearly he wasn’t happy to have to prompt the information out of the guard.

 

“Sir, I’m not aware this is the best plac-”

 

“Tell me, now! That is an order.”

 

The guard’s eyes flickered with anxiety. Keith followed his gaze for a moment, nearly throwing up when he saw where it was pointed.

 

_ No. Anybody else. He had to be wrong.  _

 

“The slave, sir,” the Galra said, this time nodding in Shiro’s direction.

 

Everything happened at once. 

 

Keith was lunging for the soldier, ready to strangle him for even suggesting such a terrible notion, but then Lance was grabbing his shoulder, his grip tight enough to shoot pain through Keith’s shoulder, the shock alone causing him to falter. Then, Lance was grabbing his arm, holding him back from doing anything stupid. 

 

Allura was gasping, moving towards Shiro slightly, probably without even realizing she had moved at all. “You must have made a mistake!”

 

Under normal circumstances, Keith could have kissed her for her belief in Shiro, especially since she had only known him for a handful of days. But he was too busy trying to break free from Lance’s grip. The Altean was a lot stronger than he looked, pulling Keith into a hold while the Galra tore at him, trying to escape his grip and tear the throat out of anyone who dared to accuse Shiro of such things. He  _ knew  _ Shiro. He’d never do something like this, ever. He wanted peace; he’d hated the war. He wouldn’t do anything to sabotage this treaty. Keith wouldn’t even consider it. Keith was crying and he didn’t even realize it. He felt betrayed. Not by Shiro- no, his faith in Shiro was unwavering- but by his brother, who would surely take this guard’s word as the truth. 

 

And that was exactly what happened. Keith watched in horror, struggling less and less as he watched, starting to freeze. He was half aware of the fact that he didn’t want to hurt Lance in his struggle, which was the only thing keeping his elbow from smashing in the other prince’s nose and using surprise to break free. Lotor was summoning more guards, but personally went to take Shiro into custody. The later, probably realizing that fleeing would only make him look guilty, took it in stride, even as Lotor’s fist collided with Shiro’s face, sending him to his knees. 

 

“ _ No.”  _ Keith’s voice was a whisper, but he knew that Lance must have heard by the tightening of rip around his waist. 

 

There was another guard now, this one moving swiftly, pulling Shiro’s arms behind him and twisting them so he could restrain the slave. His movements rough, claws digging into Shiro’s arms and twisting harder than he needed to. Not that you could tell: Shiro wasn’t giving anything away on his features. He didn’t look pained or guilty at all. The latter, Keith guessed, was because he wasn’t. There was no way he was guilty. It just wasn’t possible. He couldn’t even question it. 

 

Even the Queen was expressing her doubts. She was at Lotor’s side now, placing a hand on his arm. “Prince Lotor, with all due respect-”

 

He shook off her arm and Keith felt Lance tense behind him. Of course he wanted to protect his cousin.  _ But,  _ Keith thought bitterly,  _ he won’t let me protect my friend.  _

 

Lotor ignored Queen Allura completely, keeping his gaze trained on Shiro. A nasty bruise was already starting to form on the slave’s cheek where his fist had smashed it. “You have hereby been accused of crimes against the state,” he said, the fury so obvious in his voice that it made Keith wince. “Do you have  _ anything  _ to say for yourself?”

 

Shiro, to Keith’s horror, seemed to hesitate. A long silence passed before he spoke. There were so many eyes on them now, the partygoers desperate to see the drama. “I am not guilty,” finally passed through Shiro’s lips. 

 

Lotor’s lips curled in a sneer. “Is that all?”

 

“I am not guilty,” Shiro repeated. “I have planted no bombs and committed no crimes against the state.”

 

Even Keith had to admit that it sounded rehearsed. It was too formal and Shiro looked too calm. Keith knew that that didn’t mean that he was guilty- it was in Shiro’s nature to stay calm in any situation, simply because someone had to. But that didn’t look good, especially when none of these people knew Shiro like he did. 

 

Lotor didn’t address him again. Instead, he looked to the guard who had tied Shiro’s wrists. More had gathered, but this one _ \-  _ Thace, maybe?- seemed to be in charge. “Take him away.”

 

Thace said nothing, only nodded. He yanked Shiro to his feet, leading him out. Keith finally found himself frozen in place, only able to stare with wide eyes as his slave and only friend kept his head held high despite the accusations. He kept silently pleading with Shiro that he would do something, anything, that might help his case. But he simply allowed himself to be led from the hall. 

 

Queen Allura looked more than a little worried, though she was clearly trying to hide it. “What is going to happen to him?” She asked, words directed at Lotor.

 

The Regent Prince turned to her, finally acknowledging her. He didn’t apologize for his earlier rudeness. Instead, he simply answered her question.

 

“He will be sentenced to death in the Arena, as is the law.”

 

Keith blacked out for a second. They couldn’t be sending Shiro back in there. 

 

But they were. 

 

This time, he had no qualms about sending his elbow into Lance’s stomach, thankful when the arms around him dropped in surprise, Lance gasping. Keith would feel a little bad about that later, problem. Now, though, he simply ran, out of the ballroom and into the hall, trying to trace the steps of the guards that had taken Shiro. He was only half aware of the guards that were following him, closing in far quicker than he would have liked. But Keith kept running, hoping he could be quick enough to catch the party ahead of him. He knew he was, but he had no idea what he was going to do when he reached them. 

 

He was saved the trouble by his own guards, who wasted no time in tackling him to the ground. Keith knew they were under orders, but that didn’t make him any less pissed in the moment, especially when his head smacked into the ground with a sickening sound. His vision blurred and he saw stars, and he struggled. But it took less than a minute for the stars to grow bigger in his eyes, and his vision was darkening from the blow. He was unconscious in seconds. 

  
  
  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey everybody! sorry about posting this a little later than normal! you'd think that with it being summer and all i'd be able to get this shit up in time, but ya boi got a full time job so it's still a struggle. but i promise there'll always be at least one chapter every two weeks, always on fridays. you can always follow me on twitter for art and updates tho! (@giveshiroabreak) 
> 
> also, thank the song "firestorm" by sabaton for this chapter. it got me pumped af to write it. its rlly good everyone listen to it pls
> 
>  
> 
> and, as always, please leave a kudos and a comment if u enjoyed it or have anything to say!! it honestly makes my whole week when i hear from y'all. i've been trying to reply to more comments, too, so feel free to just ask any questions and i'll get back to you :)
> 
> have a great weekend everybody!
> 
> (and, as always, a big thanks to my bff alex for reading through it first. ily hoe)


	7. Dead Soldier's Waltz

“How’re you feeling?”

 

“I’m fine.”

 

“Lance, don’t start with me. You’ve been pacing for the last ten minutes. You don’t even pace, man. What gives?”

 

Hunk watched as Lance turned, clearly anxious. “I’m seriously fine.”

 

Hunk shook his head, patting the seat next to his at the table. Lance knew that he wasn’t going to accept no for an answer, so, with a sigh that was borderline overdramatic, he sat. The pair sat in the kitchens now, waiting on the arrival of the third member of their little group. Pidge was taking their sweet time in showing up to the party, too. For a minute Lance had panicked, worried that they might have been injured in the explosion, but Hunk had assured him that that wasn’t the case. Still, the more time passed the more obvious Lance’s worrying became.

 

“Come on, buddy,” Hunk said, throwing an arm around Lance’s shoulders, “You don’t do so well when it comes to bottling things up. Talk to me.”

 

“I’m worried,” Lance admitted, laying his head on Hunk’s shoulder. It was practically second nature. Hunk had been in his life for as long as he could remember. Just being around him was calming and comfortable. “That’s all.”

 

“As you should be,” Hunk said, far too cheerfully. “After all, your sister’s attendant is sentenced to death, half the ballroom got bombed, and your fiance, who you didn’t want to marry anyways, went slightly crazy.”

 

“Gee, thanks, Hunk,” Lance said dryly.

 

“You’re not a robot, Lance,” Hunk said, squeezing him a little with the arm around Lance’s shoulder. “I’d be more worried if you weren’t at least pretending to be worried? Are you pretending?”

 

Lance visibly faltered at that. Hunk frowned. He could always read Lance like a book, but he couldn’t tell what he was thinking now. “Alright, tell me. It’s not the explosion that’s bugging you, is it?”

 

“I just....” Lance was picking at his nails, never a good sign. He loved having them round and perfect looking always, so Hunk could always tell when something was bothering him when he tried to pick at them. It was a dead giveaway. “I snuck out with Keith, right?”

 

Hunk nodded. “Uh huh.”

 

“Well, I had a lot of fun. And I kissed him. Because it’s kind of really hard to hate him. I thought it would be easy. I hated him before this. Always getting compared to the Other Prince- trademark, ugh- because he was just so,” and Lance dragged out that ‘o’ for far too long, “good at being a commander and a pilot. But he’s just a guy. A cute guy with a cute, stupid accent and a cute, stupid fluffy ears and he’s a really good kisser. But there’s the plan, you know?”

 

Hunk could feel his heart breaking for his friend with each word. He squeezed just a little harder around Lance’s shoulders, a half hug of support and love. “Oh, buddy… It’s gonna be alright. I promise.”

 

Lance buried his head into Hunk’s shoulder. “I hope so…”

 

Hunk wished that Prince Keith wasn’t going to inevitably break his best friend’s heart.

 

The two lapsed into a sad silence as they waited on their friend.

 

Shiro wished he wasn’t so terrified. He hated being scared more than anything in the world. But the very idea of ever returning to the Hell that was the Galra Arena kept him up at night. It invaded his nightmares causing him to wake gasping for air with tears rolling down his cheeks in the darkness, unfocused and terrified.

 

So returning to it? His worst nightmare.

 

But as he was dragged from the castle into the cool night he refused to let it show. He wouldn’t let anyone see how scared he truly was. He never did. In truth, Shiro was scared more than he wanted to admit, even to himself. He was scared of the Arena. He was scared of himself, of the things he had done to survive it. He was scared of the power given to him through his robotic arm after losing the real thing in a battle. He was scared of the war, of dying. He was scared by how he managed to make friends within this shitstorm of an alien race. He was scared of how he thought of Keith like a brother despite their positions. He was scared that he was going to remain a slave forever and never escape, never go home.

 

But he never showed it. Not if he could help it. During his time in the arena he had learned how to mask his emotions and seem as robotic as his arm, as uncaring as the monsters who’d forced him to fight. It turned him into someone he couldn’t face in the mirror, but he was still alive.

 

Sometimes he wasn’t sure if it had been worth it.

 

This was definitely one of those days.

 

The next three hours of his life were a blur.

 

He was “escorted” out of the castle, breathing heavy. He felt dizzy as they placed him on a ship, setting course for infamous prison ship. Shiro couldn’t bring himself to look out the window, training his eyes at a dot on the wall. He wanted time to stop, but it just kept going and then-

 

They arrived.

 

It was exactly as Shiro remembered.

 

Dark. So cold that he was shivering the moment he stepped off the ship. The floor was hard and rough under his feet. The sounds of prisoners crying, screaming, dying and cheering just barely audible over the pounding of his heart in his ears.

 

The guard shoved his back as they walked, causing him to stumble. “Move faster,” he said. Shiro set his jaw, wishing more than anything that he could just turn around and sock this guy right in the nose. But to do so would be a death sentence. Then again, he was already facing one. Still, he stayed silent and obedient, holding his head a little bit higher to try and save some of his dignity. He hadn’t made it this far just to die over something stupid like a good, solid revenge punch. No matter how satisfying of an idea that might be.

It seemed like they were walking forever. They made plenty of turns, but the dark metal walls and identical cell doors made it impossible to try and figure out where they were or where they were going. Not that Shiro probably could have found his way around the place either way, but he would have had a better chance with something, _anything,_ that wasn’t a metal slab and a control padlocked door. No such luck, however.

 

The sounds were starting to overwhelm him. The deeper into the prison they walked the quicker Shiro’s breathing got, the louder the screams and shouts got. It was like being marched down a row of Hell, the tortured reaching out to him on either side of him. But he was powerless to help them. He was one of them.

 

They still hadn’t reached their destination. Shiro wanted to ask just how much farther he was going to have to trek, but he kept his mouth closed. It was better than having to deal with an actual conversation with his guard.

 

He was pleasantly (well maybe not pleasantly, but at least surprised) when they were intercepted by another soldier, one who had been running down a hall to meet them. Shiro’s dark eyes widened dramatically at the sight of the new arrival, unable to believe what he was seeing. There was no way it was who he thought it was. Right?

 

“Vrepit Sa,” Thace said in greeting to Shiro’s guard, nodding at him without acknowledging Shiro at all. “I’m here to finish escorting the prisoner to his cell.”

 

“You are?” The guard clearly didn’t trust Thace and moved a little bit closer to his captive. “Commander Thace, with all due respect, I would like some verification-”

 

Thace interrupted, sounding tired and irritated. “If you’d like me to simply pull rank, I’d be happy to oblige.”

 

The guard quickly backtracked, shaking his head profusely. What a wuss. “No, no, sir, that won’t be necessary. This place gives me the creeps anyways. He’s all yours.”

 

He handed over the key to Shiro’s chains with no hesitation, saluting before practically sprinting down the dark hallway they’d came from.

 

Once he was out of sight, Shiro turned to Thace.

 

“What are you doing here,” he hissed.

 

“Shh,” Thace snapped, eyes darting around the corridor. “They might still be able to hear us?”

 

“They?” Shiro repeated. “Who’s they?”

 

“I’ll explain later. But first, I need to get you to the safe room,” Thace said, starting to lead Shiro once again.

 

“Wait,” Shiro said, stopping dead in his tracks to stare at Thace with an incredulous look. “You’re helping me?”

 

Thace simply nodded. “Comrades don’t let each other go out without a fight.”

 

Shiro started walking again.

 

This walk was much shorter, but just as quiet. Shiro had a million questions he wanted to ask Thace, but he was smart enough to keep his mouth shut. Still, his throat burned with unsaid words dying to escape.

 

Finally, they reached a door that Thace stopped decisively in front of. It didn’t look special at all. There was nothing about it that screamed safety. But Shiro could only pray that that was what lay on the other side.

 

Thace pressed his hand to the door and it swung open. They stepped inside, Shiro’s eyes roaming the room in wonder. It was much brighter than the corridor behind them, bright lights shining in every corner. There was a table in the middle with the latest Galra computer technology and papers scattered messily on top of it, a swivel chair of all things keeping it company. At first Shiro thought that they were alone, but a door on the other side of the room rose to open and his heart leaped into his throat.

 

A druid had just walked through the door.

 

Keith’s head was pounding when he woke up. He didn’t open his eyes or sit up, wishing that the awful headache would leave him alone if he tried hard enough to will it away. It wasn’t working.

 

Groaning, Keith pulled himself up onto his elbows, blinking as his eyes adjusted to the light around him. In his groggy state, his surroundings were seriously confusing him. Torn somewhere between unconsciousness and barely there, he woke up expecting to be on one of his fleet’s carrier ships, Shiro on the couch across from him and maps and battle plans scattered all around them. Instead, he saw light streaming through decorated curtains and high ceilings and… not much else. The room was bare and empty.

 

Oh, right. The war was over. He was… home. In his room. Right.

 

He wished he could get his head cleared. He couldn’t even remember what had made it hurt like this. Had he and Shiro been sparring and he’d gotten a bad break?  If that was the case, he was going to murder his slave for this. Where was Shiro, anyways?

 

Shiro… something was wrong with Shiro. But for the life of him, Keith couldn’t remember what it was.

 

Fuck, he wished his head would stop hurting.

 

He let his body fall back onto the bed, closing his eyes again. There was a knock on the door, though, and he winced at the stab of pain the loud noise caused in his head. What the hell had caused this headache, anyways? Did he smash his head into the wall or something? He just wished it would clear so that he could at least remember what had happened. He remembered the party, sneaking out to the party, then…? He knew that his brain was missing something important, that the lapse in his memory was something life changing, but he couldn’t figure it out for the life of him.

 

There was another knock on the door.

 

“Come in,” Keith called, wincing at the sound of his own voice.

 

The door creaked open, but Keith didn’t bother to look and see who it was. The footsteps didn’t sound like Shiro’s, though, and Shiro would not have knocked, so maybe just laying with his eyes closed wasn’t the best idea. He was still tempted. Keith cracked one eye open, searching for the guest and finding him almost immediately. When he saw who it was he practically jumped into a sitting position, but he nearly blacked out from the headache increasing. God, where were all the palace doctors when he needed them?

 

“What are you doing here?” He asked, trying really hard to not hide his head under the pillows or hold it in his hands.

 

Lance was frowning at him, standing beside the bed with a look of genuine concern. That was a little unnerving. Concern wasn’t necessarily an emotion Keith had come to associate with Lance. Maybe that was unfair, considering they’d only known each other for a little under a month and in Lance’s defense he had been concerned about Keith during his… episode after they’d danced at the party. Maybe he should give the prince a little more credit.

 

“I came to check on you. The physician said you might wake up with a nasty headache and your brother forbade anyone from even stepping foot on this floor to make sure you were okay,” Lance explained, sitting beside him on the bed. His entire body was full of tension. Keith suspected he regretted coming at all.

 

“Wait, Lotor what?” He asked, his words slow and a little slurred.

 

“Well, you hit your head something nasty, dude, but Lotor said that anyone who tried to help you was going to ‘face his wrath.” With the last couple of words Lance formed quotes in the air, scrunching his nose up. Clearly he didn’t have a high opinion of Lotor. Then again, Keith thought, who did? “I guess it’s punishment for that stupid stunt you pulled back in the ballroom?”

 

What…?

 

It all came back to him at once, his pounding head bombarded by the memories of the night before. He remembered the explosion, running back to the castle, and running after Shiro and getting tackled to the ground (which explained the headache), and oh shit, _Shiro_ -

 

He made a move to jump out of the bed, but before he could even swing his legs out he was pushed firmly back into place by his fiance.

 

“What the hell?” Keith growled, but he didn’t try to fight back, just laying in the bed with fury filling him from head to toe. Not necessarily for Lance, though. And maybe he was starting to feel a little guilty for elbowing him so hard in his attempt to chase down the guard’s taking his slave away. Maybe.

 

“You’re already being punished for chasing after him,” Lance said, shaking his head, “It would be dumb as hell to make things worse. Your little stunt last night wasn’t exactly good for your public image.”

 

“I don’t care about my public image,” Keith said, twitching at his own pathetically whiny voice, “I care about Shiro.”

 

“There isn’t much you can do to help him,” Lance pointed out, only making Keith angrier. “Allura’s already doing all she can, but your brother isn’t budging.”

 

Figures.

 

“And besides,” Lance continued, glaring at the wall on the other side of Keith, “It’s not like she’s really in a place to start demanding things from him.”

 

There was a really long, really uncomfortable pause after that. “Right.”

 

Lance nudged Keith after that, then shoved him over a little. “Budge over,” he demanded.

 

Keith raised an eyebrow at him, but did as he was told and scooted over a bit. The movement just shot more pain through his skull. It was really starting to get old. Lance flopped down beside him on the bed, turning onto his side so that he was facing Keith. Normally Keith would have found their position a little too close for comfort, but for some reason, he didn’t mind Lance being so close. It was actually comforting. Keith rolled onto his side so that they were both facing in, golden yellow eyes meeting deep blue ones.

 

Lance frowned, moving a strand of hair out of Keith’s eyes gently. For some reason, the feeling of Lance’s fingers brushing against his forehead made Keith’s throat feel like it was tightening, but he swallowed it down.

 

“We really should get you to a doctor,” Lance said, letting his hand flop back into the small space between them, only centimeters away from Keith’s chest.

 

“That reminds me,” Keith said, returning the frown, “Aren’t you not supposed to be here? Lotor’s wrath and all.”

 

Lance laughed at that. God, it was a beautiful sound. “Please,” he snickered, “As if I care what Lotor thinks of what I do. Besides, you’re my fiance. It’s my job to care about you.”

 

Keith wasn’t sure what to make of that. “Fair enough, I guess.” But he couldn’t help the way his lips twitched a little, the ghost of a smile. He liked that Lance had come to check on him despite what the consequences might be. “He really is furious with me, isn’t he?”

 

“Oh, he was livid,” Lance told him, a mischievous spark in those deep blue eyes. “I was worried he was going to throw your ass in the Arena, too, to be honest. But Allura managed to talk him down from literally flaying you alive, so technically your punishment is total isolation.”

 

“Yeah, that’s working out real well,” Keith replied with a snort, one that Lance returned.

 

“I know, right? Guess I’m just too cool for school.”

 

“What?” Keith scrunched his nose in confusion. He had no idea what that was supposed to mean. Everyone had to go to school. What did being cool have to do with it?

 

“Oh my quiznak,” Lance gasped, but was cut off before he could continue.

 

“I don’t think you’re using that word right.”

 

“Shhhh. Anyways, it’s just an expression we have on Altea, Keith. Like, being too cool for school is too cool to follow the crowd and rules and stuff,” Lance explained. Listening to him speak was slowly becoming one of Keith’s favorite pastimes. That scared him a little. Lance was Altean. They’d been enemies for so long that Keith was scared to care about him. He knew it was irrational- the war was over- but he couldn’t help but let the dread pool in his chest.

 

“It’s a dumb one,” he said, rolling his eyes.

 

Lance pulled out a pillow from under his head and whacked Keith’s with it, eyes widening at the surprised yelp that Keith let out against his own will.

 

“Oh my quiznak,” he stammered, taking Keith’s face in his hands, looking pained, “I am so so so so sorry- I completely forgot about your head- I-”

 

“It’s fine,” Keith assured him. Despite that, Lance’s hands stayed cupping his cheeks and Keith felt his face starting to heat up. They were just so _damn close._ If he wanted to he could easily lean in barely inches and they would be mouth to mouth. And, honestly, he was tempted to do just that.

 

But he didn’t.

 

Instead, Lance sadly dropped his hands, turning to get up. “I should probably get going and leave you alone to wallow in your pain now.”

 

Without thinking about it first, Keith’s hand shot out and grabbed Lance’s wrist, causing the Altean to stop moving in surprise. They both looked at Keith’s hand on Lance’s dark wrist for a moment before making eye contact again.

 

He wanted to tell Lance to stay. He wanted Lance to talk his ear off and laugh at his stupid comments. He wanted him to stay.

 

But he didn’t tell Lance that. Instead, he simply said, “Thank you, Lance.”

 

Lance’s lips twitched upwards in a soft smile as he stood to go. “Anytime hot stuff.”

 

Keith watched him retreat until he reached the door, wishing he had said something else.

 

Wait.

 

Hot stuff?

 

Shiro’s throat felt like it was closing up, panic swelling in his brain. He was all too familiar with the druids. They were vile beings, witches that the bitch Haggar had corrupted into blindly following her in her path of dark magic. They’d taken his arm, they’d experimented on hundreds of poor creatures too weak to help themselves.

 

Shiro made a move to run the hell out of there as fast as he could but Thace clamped an iron hand onto his shoulder. Shiro couldn’t believe he’d been foolish enough to trust him. War buddies meant nothing when one of them was accused of treason, right?

 

The druid’s mask brought back so many memories, all laced with fear and dread. The only thing Shiro could compare them to were the Plague Doctor masks back on Earth from the time of the Black Plague, but these were purple rather than black, metal rather than cloth. He was practically shaking where he stood.

 

Slowly, the druid moved a gloved hand to his face and as Shiro watched in horror, removed his mask.

 

Under the mask of death was an… Altean? He looked young he couldn’t have been much more than Shiro’s age of twenty three, with a shock of red hair and green markings under his eyes. His face was kind.

 

He spoke then, addressing Thace. “Ah, you finally got ahold of the Champion? I thought you’d never make it back.”

 

If Thace had had pupils Shiro suspected he would have been rolling them. “The escort was an absolute moron. I’d bet anything he was completely lost. They weren’t even headed in the right direction of the cell.”

 

Well that explained all the walking.

 

Thace seemed to remember that Shiro was here, nodding at him. “Matt, this is Shiro. Shiro, this is Matthew Holt.”

 

The kid- Matt- smiled at him. Shiro didn’t return it, only looking at the Altean in surprise. “Please, call me Matt,” he said. “Nice to meet you.”

 

Shiro managed to pull himself together, standing up straighter. “I wish it were under better circumstances.”

 

Matt laughed at that. “Fair enough, fair enough. Say, Thace, why don’t you unchain the poor guy?”

 

Thace looked pained and shook his head. “I cannot. We can’t stay for too long and if someone were to walk in…”

 

Shiro saw Matt’s easygoing smile drop, but only for a second before it returned. “Right, duh. My mistake.”

 

“If you don’t mind me asking,” Shiro butt in, “What exactly is going on here?”

 

Thace looked to Matt to explain. He obliged.

 

“In case you somehow missed it, I’m a spy. I report to Thace here.”

 

“And?” Shiro prompted, knowing that there was more to the story.

 

“We belong to an organization called the Blade of Marmora. Originally the Blade is a group of traitors to the Galra empire. It was nothing more than a group that wanted a change in power, but they were too small and powerless to do anything about it.When the war began, however, spying on the Galra became our sole purpose. We were contracted by the Altean royal families themselves.”

 

Shiro turned to Thace, suddenly sick to his stomach. “So the entire time we were serving under Keith…?”

 

He didn’t need to finish the question. Thace nodded, his expression looking plenty strained.

 

“Give us a moment,” Shiro asked, the hurt clear in his voice. He couldn’t believe that the entire time they’d been fighting Thace had been working against them. Shiro had trusted him. _Keith_ trusted him. Thankfully, Thace seemed to understand and nodded, leaving the room without a word, presumably to wait outside.

 

Matt moved closer to Shiro. He was short and now that he was closer, looked really familiar. In fact, he looked like an Altean Shiro had seen just hours ago: the Altean herald. It was unnerving how similar they looked, almost like brother and sister.

 

“Hey,” he said, his voice soft and soothing now, “I know it’s a lot to take in. Don’t think about it too much.”

 

“Yeah, right,” Shiro snorted. But he didn’t want to be rude. Matt was helping him after all. “What about you? How did you end up in this mess.”

 

Matt looked a little pained and for a moment Shiro regretted asking.

 

“I was a soldier. I didn’t want to be. I wanted to be a scientist.” He looked a little wistful at that, something Shiro could understand. “But the timing was all wrong. I had the brains, but the Galra had the guns. So I fought like the rest of Altea. After a year, my squadron was captured in a battle. Most of them fought to the death, but I… I was too scared. I didn’t want to die.

 

So I let myself get taken as a prisoner. There were only five of us who’d survived, but it didn’t matter. We were separated within minutes of our arrest. We were sent to separate prison camps. That’s where I met Thace. He saw how smart I was, apparently, and took me under his wing. He told me that I could convince Haggar to take me in as an apprentice to her magic.” He shuddered, shaking his head. “I wanted to help, so I agreed. And here we are.”

 

The Altean’s smile was forced. Shiro still felt a little guilty, but he had even more questions. “Now that the war is over, what do you do? Altea lost.”

 

There was a look in Matt’s eyes that Shiro couldn’t read. He raised a ginger eyebrow, asking, “Have they?”

 

“Yes,” Shiro replied, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. To him, it was. “The terms of their surrender are being agreed upon as we speak. Unless… Unless you guys are planning something.”

 

Matt nodded. “Now you’re getting the idea.”

 

“What is it?” Shiro asked, a desperate need to know filling him from head to toe. Whatever it was, he needed to warn Keith, somehow.

 

Matt bit his lip, clearly unsure of whether or not he should actually tell Shiro the plan. He seemed to decide that it was okay though, because he started to speak. “Queen Allura contacted us the day of her surrender. She begged us to help her with one more task, one that she said would complete the Blade’s initial goal of toppling the power of the royal family.”

 

Shiro started to feel dread pooling his stomach.

 

“She told us that she was going to falsely surrender and lull the Galra into a false sense of security before executing her final attack. She wanted us to take to the castle and, well… She contracted us to be assassins, to put it simply,” Matt finished, sighing. “We’re going to kill the royal family, plain and simple.

 

There was a sinking feeling in Shiro’s stomach. He took a deep, shaky breath. “Prince Lance… does he know about this?”

 

“Yes. The Queen said that it was his idea in the first place.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry i just fuckin love leaving y'all hanging :') (also i recommend reading the first part of the chapter again to put it in a little perspective ;)) )
> 
> and a big thanks to the loml alex (@nextredpaladin) and bry (@pastel-k1tten) for beta-ing this for me! 
> 
> as always, please please please leave a kudos and/or comment if you enjoyed it!!! it makes me so happy every time seriously yo ,,, aLSO HOLY SHIT i sobbed when i saw this was at almost 200 kudos no joke smh (i love each and every one of you)
> 
> hmu on twitter anytime!! (and let me know u came from here if u want) https://twitter.com/giveshiroabreak
> 
> thanks for reading!


	8. Far From the Fame

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey everybody! so, i know i usually leave notes for last but !! i wanted to give you all a heads up for this chapter. it's a tw! if you dont have any triggers and dont want to be spoiled stop reading this note in three, two... 
> 
> so, in my original plans for this fic i was only going to explore lotor and keith's relationship as an emotionally abusive one, but in this chapter i took it one step further and added a physical aspect to it. i updated the tags accordingly, so my apologies for not having tagged that sooner. if you need to skip it, it starts at "Lotor moved so quickly that Keith didn't even process...." and ends at "'Bite me,' Keith managed to say, but the door was already..." thank you!

Shiro wants to go home.

 

It’s a weird time to have that thought, but it pops into his mind anyways, short circuiting his brain for a moment. He thinks of the forests he grew up in, the desert wasteland he survived for flight school. He thinks of rain coming down in sheets as he biked to school as a child. He thinks of the disapproval on his father’s face when he tells him that he wants to be a pilot instead of a lawyer, his mother’s soft frown. The fear they think is hidden when he tells them that he’s going to go to space, for real this time. How he was going to go farther than any human ever had and how he’d only be gone a couple of months.

 

He was seventeen then. A pilot in training, having fought for months to secure the internship-like position on that flight. His classmates had been so jealous.

 

He’d only be gone a couple of months. That’s what he’d said to his parents the last time he’d seen them. His mother had been teary eyed and his father, despite his initial doubts about Shiro becoming a pilot, had looking proud of his son.

 

He’d pulled him in for a rare hug, whispering, “We’ll see you soon, Takashi.”

 

That had been seven years ago.

 

Two years in the Arena.

 

Five years as Keith’s slave, three of which were spent in war.

 

And now, faced with the idea of being a part of group taking down an entire alien empire, he just wanted to go home.

 

Someday.

 

Just not today.

 

He shook the thought from his head, staring at Matt with newfound determination. “I’m not helping you kill Keith. He’s my friend.”

 

Matt started to frown. “Yes, but-”

 

Shiro was already cutting him off, turning to open the door and grabbing Thace by the collar and pulling his sorry ass back into the room. It took a little effort, but Shiro managed to get the job done.

 

“I don’t know why you brought me here,” he said, glaring daggers at the Galra, “But it better not have been to recruit me for this.”

 

Thace looked pained. It was obvious that that was what he was hoping for. “Shiro, I don’t understand. You’re a slave. Don’t you want your freedom?  This is a way to get it.”

 

Shiro felt like he’d been slapped across the face. Thace was right. If Keith was dead Shiro would be free. And for a painstakingly long moment… he considered it.

 

The guilt that washed over him was almost enough to make him vomit.

 

“I won’t help you kill him. There has to be another way. I don’t know how you do things here necessarily, but on Earth we don’t kill our comrades and especially not our friends,” he spat, his glare traveling between the two of them. Matt was still frowning at him, with both confusion and slight judgment prevalent on his face. He wasn’t sure he liked Matt very much at this point.

 

“You know that’s not what this is about,” Thace said, trying to act like a voice of reason.

 

“Then what is it about?” Shiro asked, even though he knew the answer. He just didn’t know why his friend had to die for it.

 

“It’s a coup. We can take over and make this world and the empire a better place. We can’t do that with any of the royal family alive,” Thace answered, his voice steady, but Shiro could hear the increasing annoyance behind it. Good. Let him be pissed. Shiro was going to be stuck in this hell whether or not he agreed to help them.

 

Hell, he still didn’t know what they wanted from him.

 

“What threat does Keith pose, though?” He pointed out, his frown matching Matt’s now.

 

Matt seemed to remember then that he had the ability to be a part of this conversation, answering before Thace could even open his mouth. “He’s Zarkon’s son. We can’t trust him.”

 

“He’s not Zarkon,” Shiro pointed out.

 

“He could be,” Matt countered. He gestered at Shiro’s throat, the bruises from Lotor still prevalent. “His blood runs the same as theirs. Don’t think for a second that he’ll be any different.”

 

“He already is,” Shiro said, his voice straining as he desperately looked at Thace. “Come on,” he said directly to him, “This is ridiculous. You know Keith. He’s not Zarkon or Lotor. He doesn’t deserve to die.”

 

For a moment, he wasn’t sure that Thace was going to say anything, but finally, he spoke. “Shiro…” The Galra took a deep breath, probably to choose his words carefully. “If any of them are alive there’s a chance we might fail. Keith is too much of a variable. We don’t know whether or not he’d fight back or whether or not he’ll be like his father. So it has to be this way.”

 

“It doesn’t,” Shiro insisted, but he could tell that he was on the losing side. He thought that their argument was weak. They were scared of Keith ruling like his father or his brother, but Shiro knew deep down that he wouldn’t. That just wasn’t who Keith was. Honestly, he found it even more likely that Keith wouldn’t even want to rule at all and would let the government be reformed for the betterment of his people without him. Well, that might be an over exaggeration , but the general thought was there.

 

He’d thought the war was over. He’d thought they were done with casualties.

 

Guess he was wrong.

 

“Come on,” Thace said with a sigh. “We can talk more about this tomorrow, but now I need to get you to your cell before the others get suspicious.”

 

Shiro simply nodded and allowed Thace to lead him from the room while Matt continued to frown at them, his only expression, apparently. It wasn’t going to do any of them any good if Shiro tried to fight back now.

 

He just wanted to go home.

* * *

 

Lance was acting weird. That much was obvious.

 

After Keith had finally been released from isolation (on Doctor Ulaz’s orders, following what seemed to have been Lance’s attempt at lying and saying Keith was on the verge of death), he’d hardly seen the other prince for almost three days. And, despite what Keith kept telling himself, that hurt. He didn’t think- he didn’t hope- that his fiance was actively avoiding him, but… It kind of felt like exactly that. The few times he had run into the other prince he’d make excuses, refusing to meet Keith’s eyes and hurrying off. It stung more than Keith wanted to admit. Mostly because he still wasn’t sure what Lance meant to him. Yes, Lance was his fiance, but Keith definitely didn’t love him. And yet, every time their eyes met Keith felt horrible self aware, his pulse increasing in pace, his chest tightening, warmth spreading throughout his body. He knew that he felt   _something_ for Lance, he just wasn’t quite sure what it was.

 

Right now, though, it was pure annoyance. Keith was standing in the hall, watching his fiance’s back yet again, a decorative blue cape trailing behind him, his movements far too tense to be normal. Keith felt the urge to strangle him, but fought it off. Besides, he was on his way to see his brother, for the first time since he’d lost it at the engagement party, so he needed to be as calm as possible. He’d wanted to talk to Lance about it first, having caught him on the way, but Lance had barely let him say hello before making excuses, this time claiming his sister wanted to see him, even though Keith was fairly certain the Queen was with her advisor, Coran, right now in a private meeting. He wanted to give Lance the benefit of the doubt, but with each passing excuse it was becoming harder and harder. Maybe he regretting sneaking out to the festival and kissing Keith. That would explain it, after all. Still, the idea that that might be the reasoning behind Lance’s suspicious behavior made Keith’s stomach feel like someone was tying knots with it.

 

It was on his mind the entire walk to his brother’s office. He barely payed attention to his surroundings, knowing the path by heart even after three years away. He’d used to come here plenty as a child, trying to get his brother’s attention for even a moment between his lessons. Keith had slowly given up over the years as Lotor’s contempt for him became more and more obvious, the old sting rearing its ugly head in Keith’s heart as he walked the familiar halls. But instead of sadness, he only felt anger. He was angry at Lotor: angry at him for being a shit brother, for allowing Shiro to be thrown back into the Arena without a fair trial.

 

He reached the door, knocking. The sound echoed off the wall harshly, making Keith wince from the sharpness of it. He wanted nothing more than to turn around and go talk to Shiro, or Lance, or even Hunk or Pidge, but that just wasn’t an option.

 

The seconds that passed before the door opened were filled with anxiety fueled agony. Finally, it did open, and Keith shrunk at the sight before him. His brother stood in the doorway, his attempt at hiding his anger failing miserably. His lavishly decorated arms were crossed and there was something unnerving about the way his jaw was strained, the line much more prominent as he nodded for Keith to follow him into the room.

 

“Do come in, dear brother,” Lotor said, his voice far too calm for Keith’s liking. He could tell that Lotor was controlling it, which was more worrying than outright anger. Lotor had always been good at hiding his emotions; that was what would make him valuable as an emperor someday. To see the actual strain of him fighting back his anger now was unnerving.

 

Keith walked into the office, trying to look as unconcerned as he should be. Lotor was just going to lecture him, that was all.

 

The office seemed extra sinister today, though, with the curtains lowered, natural light washed out by the dim lights above them. It gave the room an ugly red glow on the light purple walls. Lotor had retreated to lean back on his desk, drumming his fingers lightly on the dark wood, giving the room a deafening heartbeat. It matched the sound of Keith’s own in his ears, a disturbing coincidence. Lotor had looked controlled before, but now he looked far too calm. Keith knew that the anger hadn’t disappeared, but was surely building even more so now that they were standing face to face. Lotor, when left to his own devices, would grow bitter and angrier with each second, but he was far worse when facing the source of his irritation. Keith had heard of him snapping at advisors and tutors, even his generals during the war, throwing tantrums when things would go bad. Though he’d never witnessed it himself he expected that this might be how one might start.

 

It just made him want to be even more defiant.

 

“Would you like to remind me why we’re having this little discussion, Keith?” the older brother spat, saying the name like an insult. He never used Keith’s name. It sounded foreign coming from his lips and Keith didn’t like it one bit. He wasn’t sure he ever wanted to hear Lotor saying his name again.

 

“Actually, I really wouldn’t,” Keith snapped back, crossing his arms in petty defiance. After all, he didn’t owe Lotor shit. He wasn’t going to apologize for chasing after his friend. He wasn’t sorry. He never would be.

 

Lotor’s right eye twitched. Keith had to admit that it was a little satisfying.

 

“I don’t know why you called me here,” Keith continued. “Because if it’s because you’re expecting an apology you’re flat out of luck.”

 

Lotor’s eyes narrowed dangerously. “Is that so?”

 

Keith nodded. “You heard me. Shiro is my friend. I would go after him again in a heartbeat.”

 

Lotor’s laugh was a cruel barking, the kind of sound that shattered glass and made Keith wince. “Oh, he’s your friend, is he? Last I checked, he was just your slave. He wouldn’t want to be anything more to you. And who could blame him, really?”

 

Keith’s hands curled into fists. He knew logically that Lotor just wanted to get a reaction out of him, but he couldn’t help the step forward he took, the narrowing of his own eyes. “What would you know about it? You can’t even keep your own brother under contro-”

 

Lotor moved so quickly that Keith didn’t even process it until there was a clawed purple hand in his hair, yanking it roughly to the side. He yelped without meaning to, the unexpected sharp pain causing him to see stars around the room as Lotor pinned Keith to the wall by his dark hair, his grip somehow tightening even more as he yanked Keith’s head to the side. Keith tried to claw back in retaliation, but Lotor had had the upper hand of surprise and was physically stronger despite the two of them sharing the same lean form.

 

“You insolent _brat,”_ Lotor hissed, pulling Keith’s hair as the younger prince hissed, still clawing at the older’s wrist in an attempt to force him to let go. “How dare you pull such a stunt like that- do you have any idea of how stupid you are?”

 

“Let. Go. Of. Me,” Keith said, all but spitting the words at Lotor, attempting to knee his brother’s gut in the hopes of catching him off guard, but Lotor had always been better than Keith at anticipating his enemy’s next move, so he managed to knock it aside, making sure to yank at Keith’s hair again for good measure.

 

“Do you have any idea of the damage you’ve done to our image, little brother?” Lotor asked, saying the last two words with disgust, which somehow stung just as much as the pulls to Keith’s hair. “If our father were in his right state of mind he would have had you killed for less, but-”

 

“You can’t do a thing,” Keith cut him off, a smirk slowly pulling at the corners of his lips. With their father still technically in charge and Keith a key staple in the treaty with the Alteans, Lotor couldn’t even try to have an attempt made on Keith’s life. In fact, all of his threats were empty. Lotor, in offering his brother’s hand in marriage, had made him untouchable.

 

Metaphorically, of course, because at that, Keith felt his head coming off the wall before painfully reconnecting with it, the room spinning around him. Lotor didn’t appear to have forgotten Keith’s recent head injury (a concussion, according to Ulaz), instead using it against him. Keith felt like he was going to throw up.

 

“You are lucky you have the Altean brat wrapped around your finger or else I would replace you in a heartbeat,” Lotor spat, finally releasing Keith from his grasp. The younger Galra managed to stand, but he really wished the room would stop spinning. His previous pain from the first injury was coming back full force and the sudden dizziness was making him feel nauseous. There was a lump in the back of his throat threatening to come up, but Keith desperately fought to keep it down.

 

“Now,” Lotor continued, grabbing the collar of Keith’s shirt and using his other hand to throw the door open, “Get out of my sight. And if you so much as step one foot out of line I won’t hesitate to throw you into the Arena with your pathetic excuse for a slave.”

 

“Bite me,” Keith managed to say, but the door was already being slammed in his face by the time he’d gotten the words out.

 

His head was pounding, ears flattened to his head in an attempt to block out any and all sound, the room still spinning around him. He wanted to- no, he needed to sit down or at the very least lean against the wall until he could walk in a straight line, but he didn’t want to still be hanging around when Lotor emerged from the office again. So he took a step. And then another one. And another. Until he was at least turning around the corner. His thought process was growing fuzzier and fuzzier, his sight seeming to come and go. He didn’t think that Lotor had caused too much damage, right?

 

Then he remembered Ulaz telling him to be very careful and to try and avoid even bumping his head on a doorframe.

 

Well, that certainly had been some pointless advice.

 

Keith staggered, falling against the wall, barely managing to keep himself on his feet. There was another rush of nausea, building in his stomach and lurching into his throat. He barely had time to get to the nearest bathroom- thank God Lotor had demanded to have his office near one all those years ago- before he promptly collapsed in front of the toilet, vomit stinging his throat and causing his eyes to water. He heaved and heaved, tears catching on his purple cheeks as he slumped against the toilet, just wishing it would _fucking stop already._ He wished he’d eaten less at breakfast.

 

He felt so tired, barely managing to flush the toilet as he leaned against it without shame, his arm the only thing keeping his forehead from the cold seat. Keith was honestly fairly certain that the possibility of him passing out like this was very, very real. His eyelids felt so heavy, he wanted nothing more than to close them and sleep, but, of course, he wasn’t given the chance.

 

“Hey man, are you okay, I thought I heard- holy shit, Keith?!”

 

 _Oh, great, now he has time for me,_ Keith thought, just a little bitterly. Lance literally couldn’t have picked a worse time to stumble upon him.

 

Before he responded, Lance was crouching down beside him, running a hand through Keith’s hair, his touch gentle and somehow comforting. “What happened?” He asked, his voice practically dripping with concern.

 

“I threw up,” Keith responded, as helpful as possible, of course.

 

“No shit,” Lance retorted, but his voice was still soft, lacking any harshness that the words may have implied. “I thought Ulaz said you were supposed to be good to go by now?”

 

“Yeah, as long as I didn’t hit my head on anything,” Keith muttered, squeezing his eyes shut. He just wanted to sleep now, not answer Lance’s questions.

 

“And did you hit your head on anything?”

 

For some reason, Keith found himself pausing. He wasn’t sure why, but in his groggy state of mind he didn’t want to tell Lance about Lotor. So all he said was, “Yeah.”

 

Lance kept threading his fingers through Keith’s hair. It was really soothing, definitely not helping Keith stay awake. Lance seemed to pick up on that because he snapped his fingers in front of Keith’s face, causing the Galra to start.

 

“Sorry babe, but Ulaz said that you started showing symptoms again you weren’t supposed to sleep until he got to check on you. Doctor’s orders.”

 

Keith couldn’t decide what was worse: being awake for much longer or having to deal with another doctor visit. It didn’t seem like he was going to get much of a choice though and he must have blacked out because one second he was on the cold floor and the next there was a pair of arms hoisting him up and he was off the floor. It took him more than a few moments to realize that Lance had actually picked him up. Since when was the Altean that strong, anyways?

 

“You really don’t have to carry me,” he protested, not caring that he sounded more than a little whiny.

 

“Can you walk on your own?” Lance asked, pausing for a moment so Keith could consider it. Which didn’t take long seeing as how he could barely see straight being carried let alone standing on his own two feet.

 

“Fine,” he grumbled. If he wasn’t so tired he would probably be more embarrassed, but right now he just wanted to get to Ulaz so he could just go to sleep already. Being carried by Lance really wasn’t helping. Lance’s chest pressed against his face was warm and he smelled really nice. Keith yawned, burying his face in Lance’s shirt, giving up on being embarrassed. He missed the way that Lance’s face was turning red and the conflict that was passing over his tanned features. If Keith had noticed he would have been very, very worried. But he didn’t, only yawning again as Lance tutted at him.

 

“No falling asleep, remember?” He said, nudging Keith with his hip. “We’re almost there, don’t fall asleep on me now.”

 

Keith groaned, but managed to keep himself conscious.

 

Ulaz was not happy to see them. Keith was not happy to see Ulaz, so it evened out. Lance was just kind of there. Keith was expecting Lance to hand him over to Ulaz and leave, but Lance lingered, watching as Ulaz tapped on Keith’s head, shown a bright light in Keith’s eyes (which Keith had hissed at which in return cause Lance to laugh softly at him).

 

“I should probably keep him here,” Keith heard Ulaz saying after he seemed to have finally concluded the checkup, “Just in case. You can go if you’d like.”

“Actually, I’d prefer to stay until he’s asleep, if you don’t mind,” Lance said.

 

“Suit yourself. He seems comfortable enough on the cot, so I don’t think there’s any need to go and move him,” Ulaz was saying, but Keith was starting to tune him out.

 

He was out before Lance even reached his side.

 

* * *

 

Shiro had been surprisingly bored for most of the duration of his stay in the arena so far. To his surprise, he was bothered little by the guards, his only interaction with them being when they shoved food (if the mush could really be called that) under his door. His reprieve came in the form of Thace shaking him awake after what must have been a week- a cold, dark, anxiety riddled week- or so. Shiro really didn’t really have any way to tell the time and it was a bit maddening, but he could at least guess through the patterns of mealtimes.

 

“Get up,” Thace hissed, letting go of Shiro’s shoulder once he was sure the human was awake. “We’re going to go meet with the Blade now. Be quiet.”

 

Shiro didn’t try to argue. He was too curious about this Blade, about the plans, and honestly, he just didn’t want to sit around his cell and rot for any longer. So he stood, matching Thace’s quick pace as they followed the path to the same room as before. Shiro’s heartbeat was racing, praying they wouldn’t get caught by a stray guard, but thankfully they came into contact with noone as they raced towards their destination.

 

Thace placed his hand to the door and it swung open, revealing a room that was far more crowded than it had been the first time Shiro had been there.

 

He recognized Matt, of course, but the rest of the Galra surrounding him now were unfamiliar.

 

“Shall we begin?” Thace asked, looking around the room. He looked so tense, but it wasn’t hard to imagine why. The air of the grey room was so uncomfortable. Shiro had to fight the urge to keep looking over his shoulder. He didn’t think he could trust any of these people. Even Thace- no, especially Thace.

 

One of the Galra Shiro shook his head and Shiro practically jolted in surprise, realizing that he did, in fact, recognize one of these Galra after all. It was one of the castle’s medics, Ulaz.

 

“Not without the Queen. You know how she gets when she’s the last to know of things.”

 

Shiro’s heart felt like it was twisting. He was slightly torn. On one hand, he found that he really wanted to see the Queen, despite not really knowing why. On the other, he didn’t really want to see her. After all, she was the one who got him into this mess.

 

Thace just sighed. “And what of the Prince? Is he coming?”

 

The Prince who was going to kill Shiro’s only friend on this God forsaken planet.

 

“I left him by Prince Keith’s side. I insisted that it really wasn’t necessary but he remained adamant. I couldn’t have pried him away if I tried,” Ulaz said, shaking his head. “Although it would save us all a lot of trouble if we just completed that half of our plan now. It wouldn’t look suspicious at all given the extent of his concussion.”

 

“Wait, what?” Shiro blurted out, unable to stop himself. He’d be gone for, like, a handful of days and Keith had already managed to go and get himself a major concussion? Seriously? Then it dawned on him what exactly Ulaz was saying they should do and he took a step forward, glaring. “Don’t yo-”

 

“That’s just too risky,” Thace said, effectively cutting Shiro off and shutting him up in the process. “It is better to wait and make the blow all at once. Far less risk of being caught.”

 

Ulaz sighed. Clearly this seemed to be an ongoing issue with them. Lovers quarrel?

 

“I agree,” said a voice behind Shiro, soft but still authoritative. The Queen had arrived.

 

She walked past Shiro like something out of a dream, white hair spilling down her back and light cape flowing just slightly behind her as she moved. For once she didn’t wear a dress, but instead a simple suit and the cape to disguise her appearance should she come across any unfriendly guards. She stopped when she reached Matt, choosing to stand by him. Her posture seemed a little off to Shiro, although he supposed it might be nothing. After all, he’d only known her for short time; he shouldn’t be making assumptions yet. But still, he suspected that she didn’t quite trust the Galra around her, despite having enough faith in them to contract their services.

 

The Galra, and Matt, in return bowed to her. Shiro did not. Their eyes met for a moment and his heart seemed to catch in his throat as he bowed his head ever so slightly in greeting. That was all he would relent. Her mouth seemed to twitch upwards at that.

 

“At ease,” she said, straightening her back as the men around her returned to their normal positions. “So, have we fill Shiro in yet?”

 

“Not yet, Your Highness,” Thace said, glancing over at Shiro as he spoke. Or Shiro thought he did. He could never be quite sure, thanks to the lack of pupils the Galra sported. “We were waiting for your arrival.”

 

“I appreciate that, but time is of the essence here,” she sighed, glancing at the ceiling. “My cousin will be joining us shortly with an update on his position. So I will make this quick.

 

Shiro, you seem to already know the basics and what our mission here is. So I won’t waste any time on that. I had you brought here with the intent of questioning your knowledge on the royal family after having spent so long with them. I am truly sorry for your sentence, but there is nothing I can do about it. I’ve tried to get Lotor to change it, but he has made up his mind. But please do not lose hope in us yet.

 

Not only would I like your knowledge, but I would like to hear what you think the best course of action is for carrying out our plan. Finally, I would like you to act as a guide and ensure a quick job done when we do carry it out.”

 

“The plan where you assassinate the royal family,” Shiro confirmed, dryly, “Effectively killing my friend.”

 

Her brows furrowed. Clearly she was confused at the idea that Shiro might have come to see Keith as anything other than a master, but in reality, Shiro had never seen him as a master in the first place. That was how they’d grown close. Keith had never asked anything of him, only company and a training partner.

 

Before she could voice her thoughts on the manner, however, there was a _swoosh,_ signalling that the door was opening again. And in strolled Shiro’s new least favorite person: Prince Lance.

 

The Prince did not look happy. He seemed to be glaring at Ulaz for an unknown reason. The doctor seemed unfazed.

 

“Lance,” Queen Allura said in greeting, nodding at her brother. The Galra did not bow for him as they had done for her.

 

Shiro was dying to ask the Prince about Keith, primarily how the hell he’d managed to go and get himself a concussion in the short amount of time Shiro was gone. Sadly, now was not the time nor place. He wasn’t sure that Lance would tell him, anyways.

 

“I have nothing to report, other than Ulaz directly going against orders,” Lance said, still glaring at the Galra in question.

 

Allura raised an eyebrow at that.

 

Ulaz still seemed unfazed. “I did no such thing.”

 

“You weren’t supposed to clear him until he was actually recovered,” Lance said, like it was obvious.

 

“When I cleared him he was perfectly fine. The little brat must have done something to aggravate the injury further. That is out of my hands.”

 

Shiro’s hands curled into fists and he didn’t miss the way that Lance’s eyes seemed to narrow. But the prince dropped the subject after that.

 

“I have nothing to report,” he simply repeated. But he looked up for the briefest of moments, his blue eyes meeting Shiro’s from just feet away. Shiro couldn’t read the emotion behind them, but he knew that it wasn’t happy. Maybe he was having doubts. Shiro could only hope so. He couldn’t think about the way this prince was surely securing a spot in Keith’s heart without feeling sick. He couldn’t imagine how much this betrayal would hurt Keith. He didn’t want to.

 

Shiro would just have to come up with something on his own. Some way to make this plan of theirs work in his favor. He would play along until the last moment before turning his back on the Blade and getting his friend out alive.

 

So he answered their questions. He agreed to map out the best course around the castle for a quick and uneventful assassination. He told them about how Keith slept with the knife strapped to his hip even now, so if they were going to kill him they couldn’t waste any time to allow him to wake up. He told them how Lotor was rumored to sneak to the slaves’ quarters at night. He answered their questions and tried to not feel too guilty.

 

It went by far too quickly for Shiro’s liking. He didn’t want to go back to his cell. But, it was presumably getting late and most of them had to sneak back to their posts before long to avoid getting caught. It wasn’t until on his way out that he felt something being pressed into his hand as the Prince walked past him swiftly, nothing giving away what he had just done.

 

Shiro didn’t dare try to read the note for at least an hour, making sure that Thace or another guard wouldn’t swing by his cell while he inspected it. The light was pour, so he held the paper to the floor, using the light streaming under his door to read it.

 

_I’m going to save Keith. I would prefer to have your help. If not, I would appreciate it if you kept quiet. I’ll be back tomorrow for an answer._

 

* * *

 

Keith was finding dinner in bed with his fiance surprisingly enjoyable.

 

He’d been cleared to return to his own room with his overly fluffy mattress and pillows and dark decorated curtains. He was still confined to bedrest, but it seemed like a certain Altean was happy enough to join him in that.

 

Lance was sitting next to him now, the pair shoulder to shoulder as Lance explained that he’d gotten Hunk to whip up what he called “the best Altean cuisine off Altea.”

 

“Seriously, if you don’t like it we’re going to have our first fight as a couple,” Lance said cheerfully, passing Keith a plate as he spoke.

 

Keith took the plate but nearly choked on his own breath. Sure, they were engaged, but a couple? He hadn’t yet thought of them like that, but he supposed it was technically correct. Still, couple seemed too informal a word, too familiar and too much like they actually wanted to be seeing each other. Except Keith really did want to see Lance. He just wasn’t sure Lance was feeling the same way. Which might be ridiculous. After all, Lance had kissed _him,_ hadn’t he? And he seemed to be trying to make up for ignoring Keith for the last couple of days now.

 

So, in conclusion, Keith was just really fucking confused.

 

“Try it try it try it,” Lance demanded, his words running together as he grinned at Keith. It made Keith’s heart skip more than one beat.

 

He took a bite of the food, immediately understanding what Lance meant about it being the best around. It was amazing. He really, really hoped that Hunk was going to stay here with Lance after the wedding. If not Keith was going to be truly crushed.

 

Still, just to mess with Lance, he shrugged. “It’s okay,” he said, drawing out the word.

 

“What?!” Lance gasped, instantly going from a grin to a pout. “You’re joking. Come on, tell me you’re joking.”

 

Honestly, the look on his face was just so comical. Keith couldn’t help but laugh a little at it, which in return made Lance grin back at him.

 

“You asshole,” Lance said, whacking Keith’s side with a spare pillow. Keith couldn’t even block it, instead deciding to shield his dinner before himself. Because, you know, priorities and whatnot.

 

“Seriously, tell Hunk I’d willingly die for him any day,” Keith said, happily taking another bite of his food.

 

Lance snorted at that. “A little dramatic are we?”

 

“You bet,” Keith replied, flashing him a thumbs up with the spork still in his hand.

 

They lapsed into comfortable silence as they ate. It didn’t take Keith long to start yawning halfway through his plate, though. It wasn’t even that late, but he figured that maybe the drowsiness was a symptom of the concussion.

 

The yawns didn’t go unnoticed by Lance. Almost seconds after Keith was done eating Lance was taking his plate, leaning off the bed to drop in on the floor before gently pulling a surprised Keith’s head gently into his lap, waiting for Keith to stretch his legs out and get comfortable for a moment.

 

“You’re such an old man,” Lance teased once Keith was situated (surprised, definitely, but situated), starting to run a hand through his dark, messy hair. “Already yawning. The suns aren’t even set yet, loser.”

 

“Bite me,” Keith muttered, another yawn escaping as he looked up at Lance. He felt his chest tightening uncomfortable, his heart in his throat.

 

“Don’t tempt me,” Lance simply replied, winking down at a now slightly flustered Keith.

 

Lance’s fingers felt soothing running through Keith’s hair, making his eyes flutter.

 

“Sleep,” Lance instructed him. “I’ll be here when you wake up.”

 

And he was. He was still there merely hours later when Keith woke up in a cold sweat, tears he didn’t even feel running down his cheeks, gasping for air and clawing at the blankets. He was still there, moving them both so that he could lay with Keith and hold him in his arms. Lance was still there as Keith buried his head in his chest, trying so hard to get his breathing under control. And Lance was still there telling him it was okay and that he was safe until Keith felt his breathing settle and his eyes dry.

 

He was still there.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> and no cliffhanger this time! i figured i should give you all a little break from them (for once,,,) 
> 
> holy crap y'all!! the amazing Luka (@mandlinearts on tumblr) drew this amazing fanart for this story! i actually cried? please give it a look it's incredible: https://mandolinearts.tumblr.com/post/163341128011/im-very-picky-about-the-fics-i-read-but-together
> 
> speaking of art, i do art commissions! check out my stuff on twitter (and they're really cheap oops): https://twitter.com/giveshiroabreak/status/891064690834538498
> 
> Thanks to alex for betaing, I love u bitch
> 
> as always please please please leave a kudo and a comment if you enjoyed! i love reading them so so so much (and motivates me to write oops). 
> 
> not sure if the next chapter will be up next week or the week after that (ya homie's got family in town and a full time job (3rd shift bitches,,,) so i'll do my best but pls be patient with me 
> 
> (also mom if ur actually reading this hi)


	9. Coat of Arms

Shiro waited. The hours seemed to drag one by one in his dark cell, so incredibly long and frustrating. He wanted to know what Prince Lance was thinking, what his plan was, why he had such a sudden change of heart. Shiro wasn’t even sure he could trust the prince, but then again, what choice did he have? 

 

Shiro had finally managed to fall asleep when Prince Lance arrived at his cell. The Prince had managed to slip in without waking him, doing so by nudging him gently with his foot until Shiro woke and started with surprise which was quickly followed by annoyance.

 

“You know,” he said, rubbing the sleep from his eyes, “Where I come from that’s considered rude.”

 

“Mhmm,” Prince Lance said, tapping his foot impatiently as Shiro stood so they could talk eye to eye. Kind of. Shiro was a good head taller than the Altean so it wasn’t quite eye to eye, but better than him sitting on the floor. 

 

“So, what’s this plan of yours?” Shiro prompted, never one for niceties.

 

“So, Allura hasn’t told you this yet, but we’ve figured out how to get you out of, well, dying like a piece of meat in the arena,” the Prince started, looking a bit cheerful about that fact. “It’s pretty awesome, really.”

 

Shiro crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow, prompting an explanation. “And it is…?” 

 

Prince Lance took a deep breath before explaining at a rapid fire speed: “So, basically, during the war, we had scientists working on different ways to heal wounds- obviously- and they actually came up with a really helpful one, but it was a really hard process to recreate so we unfortunately only have a limited supply of the medicine.” Shiro was starting to wonder when Lance was going to get to the point, but thankfully it didn’t take much longer. “We’re going to give you some of it before you go into the Arena to keep you from dying… permanently.”

 

“Permanently?” Shiro repeated, unable to keep the surprise off of his face.

 

“Yeah, permanently,” the Prince said, looking a little sheepish. “You’re still gonna have to kind of die first.” 

 

“I really don’t like the sound of that,” Shiro said, shaking his head. He had so many questions: how did this drug work, what were the side effects, how the hell was he going to not stay permanently dead, just to list a few.

 

“Don’t worry!” Prince Lance assured him, “We’ve tested it before! Basically, when you die with it in your system, the drug freezes your body, internal organs and everything, and keeps you in a comatose state until a doctor manages to patch up your mortal wounds and all that, then we give you the second dose and it revives you. Kind of like CPR to the third degree.”

 

That was a lot to take in. At least, Shiro thought, he had a pretty good chance of survival now. Probably.

 

“How do you know it works?” He asked. He wasn’t sure he liked the idea of being their guinea pig test subject if it came to that. 

 

“Oh, easy,” Prince Lance said, brushing off the question. “They had to test it on me. Works like a charm.”

 

Well. Okay then. Shiro wanted to press the matter, but the prince had started speaking again, clearly trying to move on from the subject. 

 

“So when we bring you back, we can begin to execute the plan,” he was saying, examining his nails now with feigned interest, “And that’s when you help me save Keith.”

 

Shiro couldn’t stop himself from asking the obvious question: “And why the sudden change of heart?”

 

Although it was really hard to tell for sure in the dark, Shiro was fairly certain that Lance was actually turning a little red. He definitely wasn’t meeting Shiro’s eyes.

 

“I… I just really like him. A lot. He’s a good guy, you know? Not this evil, towering force of evil I thought he was. He’s just…” Lance’s voice trailed off and he shrugged helplessly. But Shiro understood. 

 

“So, how are we going to use all this to save Keith?” Shiro said, still trying to process that fact that Lance was literally asking him to die for this. He pressed on, though, mostly because they were running out of time. The next guard rotation could be any minute.

 

“Right!” Lance snapped back into his cheerful persona. “So, I’m, um, not sure.”

 

Shiro quirked an eyebrow. “What do you mean you’re not sure?”

 

Lance looked away, his face a mixture of conflict between pride and shame. “Well, I mean, this was my plan. I made it practically foolproof.”

 

“I see.”

 

“So, yeah, I kind of screwed us over.”

 

“A little.”

 

The two lapsed into silence for a moment, both lost in the same thoughts of how. How could they actively work against the Queen and the Blade of Marmora?

 

“It’s your plan isn’t it?” Shiro pointed out, scratching his chin. “Surely there’s got to be a weakness in it somewhere.”

 

Lance shook his head. “I thought of everything. There’s backups for the backups’ backups.”

 

“Well, we’ll just have to outsmart… you,” Shiro said definitively, shrugging. “It can’t be that hard.”

 

“Hey!” Lance protested, his face dropping to a pout. “It’s a great plan.”

 

“Relax, I’m just teasing you. I know it’s a very smart plan,” Shiro assured him. “But we’ve got to come up with something.”

 

Lance was silent for a handful of seconds. “You know… I might have something we could work with. So here’s what we’re going to do…”

 

And Shiro listened, nodding as Lance came up with the only way they could save his best friend.

 

* * *

 

 

Life, surprisingly, went on. Keith’s concussion was finally healing. He never saw Lotor more than once or twice a day and they were never alone. As much as Keith wanted to tell himself that he wasn’t left a little shaken by their last encounter he found that he couldn’t. He found himself looking over his shoulder, refusing to go down the hall that held Lotor’s office, even when it was completely ridiculous to avoid it. He felt twitchy all the time and noticeably jumpy, starting whenever anyone touched him when he wasn’t expecting it, even Lance. And he hated it. 

 

And Lance seemed to notice. Whenever Keith would jump away from him on reflex, he’d purse his lips, always on the verge of asking what was wrong, but never opening his mouth to voice the question. For that Keith was grateful. He wasn’t sure why, but he just didn’t want to tell Lance about what had happened between him and his brother. It was stupid, but Keith didn’t want to confess how he hadn’t been able to hold his ground against Lotor. He should have fought harder to free himself, to give Lotor exactly what he was dishing out, but he hadn’t done either of those things. 

 

There was only one person he could imagine even trying to talk to about this, but that person was locked up in a prison ship closer to the nearest moon than to him. And that made his heart ache. He missed Shiro more than he thought he would. More than he thought he could, really. He missed having a friend to talk to. 

 

He could easily talk to Lance. But for some reason that just felt different. Maybe it was because Keith was more wary of his feelings towards Lance. Sure, thinking he could really befriend a slave of his was dumb, but it wasn’t like that with Lance. It wasn’t stupid. He couldn’t admit that it probably wasn’t real and just ignore it. And if he couldn’t ignore it, it meant he couldn’t ignore the way Lance would see him because of it. Would Lance look at him with those beautiful blue eyes full of pity? Would he be disgusted by Keith’s weakness? Admittedly, that was unlikely, but it plagued his thoughts whenever he considered just giving in and confiding in Lance.

 

He was considering bringing it up sometime soon just moments ago, but then Lotor had waltzed into the dining hall where they had been enjoying a nice lunch with Lance’s friends, Hunk and Pidge, causing Keith to choke on the water he was drinking, earning himself a handful of looks from the Alteans around him. He managed to shake off their gazes, though, except for Lance’s, as Lotor came over to join them, looking far too cheerful and sitting on the side of Keith not occupied by Lance, far too close for Keith’s liking. He felt his body tense without prompting. He tried to relax enough so that it wasn’t visible, but he couldn’t shake it. 

 

Lotor didn’t seem to notice.

 

“I have some exciting news,” he declared, snatching a carrot from Keith’s plate as if they were familiar enough with each other to do so, “But I want to wait for the Queen to arrive to share it all with you.”

 

The idea that Lotor thought his news was exciting made Keith want to throw for what wouldn’t be the first time of the week. 

 

On the other side of Keith, Lance pouted, also going to grab at Keith’s food. Keith didn’t bother trying to swat his hand away, mostly because Lotor’s arrival made him lose his appetite fairly quickly. 

 

“Any hints?” Lance asked, not fazed at all about the Prince’s arrival. To be fair, he had no reason to be. Keith hadn’t told him a thing, but seeing Lotor in the same room as Lance, as close as he was now, made Keith want to shield Lance from his brother’s view, just under the slight possibility that Lotor might try and even dare to touch a single hair on Lance’s head. There was no way Keith would let that happen. 

 

Lotor shook his head, smirking. “Nope,” he said, popping the p. Across the table Pidge flinched. Lotor seemed to finally notice them, quirking an eyebrow. “You look familiar.”

 

“Weird,” Pidge replied, clearly trying to not make a run for it. Keith couldn’t blame them. He’d have been out of there in a heartbeat if he was just a servant and Lotor wanted to strike up a conversation with him. “But I doubt we’ve met before. I mean, before I came here with Lance, obviously.”

 

Lotor shrugged, unfazed. He opened his mouth to speak again, but the doors adjacent to them opened with a harsh bang as the door was pushed so hard it smacked against the wall as the newcomer entered. It was the Queen, who was looking rather sheepish at the moment.

 

“Apologies,” she said, moving to take a seat next to Pidge across from Lance, “I did not realize how light that door actually was.”

  
  


Keith fought back a laugh. Lance might have tried, but was unsuccessful and snorted at his cousin. 

 

“No worries,” Lotor said, flashing Queen Allura a grin that was meant to be charming, but his fangs made it look more intimidating than kind. “This castle can handle anything you throw at it.”

 

Allura seemed to consider this for a moment before returning the smile, a much more warm and gentle gesture than Lotor could ever even dream of making. “I’ll keep that in mind. Now,” she said, trying to change the subject, “You said that you had news?”

 

“I do!” Lotor exclaimed, looking for more cheerful now. Keith’s stomach twisted. “We have picked a date for the slave’s execution. Since the attack was on both of our empires I thought it best that you be the first to know.”

 

Allura’s cheerful demeanor faltered for only a moment. “That’s very kind of you, Prince Lotor. And when shall this take place?”

 

“Two days from now,” the older prince replied. 

 

Keith’s blood ran cold. Everyone around him, save for Lotor and Queen Allura, tensed, nobody meeting another’s eyes. 

 

“Isn’t that a little soon?” the Queen asked, her voice as sweet and polite as could be.

 

Lotor frowned, shaking his head. “Personally, I don’t think it’s soon enough. After all, the slave,” his gaze was redirected to Keith for just a moment, a sneer flashing across his features, “Did try to jeopardize our precious treaty. And we wouldn’t want that, would we?”

 

Queen Allura simply nodded, the smile on her face so obviously fake that it was a little painful to see.

 

Keith couldn’t stand it any longer, though. He couldn’t sit here with his brother gleefully going on about how Keith’s best (and basically only) friend was going to be brutally slaughtered in just a matter of days. He’d end up doing something he’d regret (then again, maybe decking Lotor right in his stupid fangs wouldn’t be something he’d regret, but it was better to not find out- at least in front of their guests). He had to get out. He pushed back his chair, the harsh sound startling the people around him, especially Lance, who looked at him with wide eyes as Keith stood, turning on his heel and practically sprinting into the hall.

 

Once the door was closed behind him, Keith leaned against the wall, eyes towards the ceiling. There had to be something he could do, right? But what? If the queen couldn’t change Lotor’s mind then who could? Certainly not Keith. There had to be something he could do, anything. But what?

 

He heard the door opening again and turned his head to see Lance stepping out of it, their gazes meeting. Keith’s breath caught in his throat, something that had been happening a lot whenever he managed to catch his fiance’s eye. Lance walked over to where he leaned, placing a hand on Keith’s shoulder. 

 

“You okay?” He asked, his head tilting just a little.

 

Keith didn’t know how to respond. He honestly wasn’t sure. It turned out that he didn’t need to answer because Lance pulling him off the wall and into his arms, Keith’s head resting on his shoulder. 

 

He just wanted to forget about all of this. He wanted to forget about the war and about this stupid treaty and about Shiro. He just wanted… a distraction. 

 

Thankfully, there was one in front of him now.

 

Keith pulled back from the embrace, not saying a word as he grabbed a surprised Lance’s hand and dragged him down two more empty corridors before finally stopping, cutting off Lance’s questioning by connecting their lips. The kiss was rushed, sloppy and aggressive and Lance was responding enthusiastically, grabbing Keith’s hair with one hand hand pushing him back against the wall with the other. His body felt like fire pressed against Lance’s, not even the cool metal of the wall cooling his skin. He was giving himself over completely to the kiss, forcing his mind to think of nothing else but the feeling of Lance’s tongue slipping into his mouth and the weight of his chest pressed against Keith’s.

 

It was overwhelming. Neither of them completely broke the kiss for air, taking quick gasps of air when they needed it. It seemed to last an eternity, but also like no time at all. And Keith couldn’t get enough of it. His hands were knotted in the front of Lance’s ridiculously nice shirt, trying to pull him even closer despite the fact that there was really no more space between them. Lance’s breath was warm in his mouth and Keith was guessing that this wasn’t something the Altean Prince lacked experience in, although he wasn’t sure how he felt about that. Jealous? Maybe, but in the moment, Keith couldn’t find a way to even think of complaining about it. 

 

His hands moved from Lance’s shirt to his shoulders to the back of his neck. It was never ending, but it was desperate as if they had no time at all. Teeth clashed as they rushed to deepen it, Keith gasping in surprise as Lance’s hand tugged at his hair. 

 

Lance murmured a soft, “Keith,” and it made Keith’s heart skip at least three beats, because damn, his name sounded so good coming out of Lance’s lips like that. He wanted to hear it a thousand more times. 

 

But it didn’t last. Before Keith could even process it, Lance was pulling back, not much, but enough to break the kiss.

 

The dark hand dropped from Keith’s hair to cup his face, thumb tracing patterns on his jaw.

 

“What’s wrong?” Keith asked, wishing his voice would go down a little in pitch. 

 

“It’s not that I’m not loving every second of this- I totally am, promise- but…” Lance’s face was unreadable. There was a soft, playful smile tugging at his lips, but his eyes told a different story. “I don’t want you to do something you’re going to regret just because you want to take your mind off things.”

 

Keith blinked in surprise. Lance had really seen through that, hadn’t he? Then again, it was probably obvious. Keith couldn’t look him in the eye, more than a little guilty at the realization of how he’d been straight up using Lance. “I…” He had to force the words out, so unused to saying them. “I’m sorry.”

 

Lance snorted. “Don’t be. That was great. We really have to do that more often. Just… when you really want to.”

 

“Okay,” Keith said, not really knowing what else to say. 

 

He wasn’t really distracted, but somehow Lance had managed to make him feel a little less miserable even after Keith had blatantly used him. 

 

Keith wasn’t sure he deserved that.

 

* * *

  
  


The day arrived too soon. 

 

It started like any other, with Keith waking up to Lance nudging him awake from the other side of the bed (where he’d started sleeping out of habit). 

 

The hours passed too quickly.

 

Lance stayed by Keith’s side the entire time, not letting him out of his sight. 

 

The flight to the Arena was too short.

 

Lotor didn’t wipe the smirk off his face once.

 

* * *

  
  


“Shiro, are you ready?” 

 

The Queen’s voice was soft and strained. She was clearly upset, but trying so hard to not show it. Shiro wasn’t surprised that she felt guilty. After all, between her and Thace, there was plenty of guilt to go around. Still, he didn’t like seeing it on her. She didn’t deserve it.

 

He nodded. Allura held a needle in her shaking hands. For a moment Shiro was worried he’d have to inject the drug into himself, but her grip around the syringe tightened, the shaking stopping as she kissed his cheek. “This will work. I promise.”

 

God, he hoped so.  
  


* * *

 

 

The Arena was deafening. It felt like half the Galra empire had turned up to watch the public execution. The audience cheered as the royal families entered side by side. It was all white noise to Keith.

 

He didn’t react when Lance squeezed his hand as they walked, then again as they sat in the prime seats reserved for them to watch the slaughter. 

 

Lotor was announcing the fight as if it was something to be enjoyed. “Ladies and Gentlemen, we are truly honored to have you here today to witness the first act of friendship between our two empires. This traitor dared to conspire against us, but he failed in doing so. Instead, our bond is only strengthened today as he pays the price for his crimes,” he said, standing in the balcony, the Arena silent for the length of his words. 

 

The door was opening below them to reveal Shiro’s opponent, a high ranking Galra soldier they’d fought with in the war twirling a sword. Keith felt like he was going to be sick. 

 

The door on the other side was opening, Shiro walking out without a weapon. He didn’t need one, thanks to his arm.

 

It began.

 

Keith watched in horror as Shiro fought with the towering soldier, so obviously outmatched that it felt like someone was tearing at Keith’s heart. It wasn’t fair and he hated how there was nothing he could do to help his best friend. He could only sit and watch on the edge of his seat as Shiro faced certain death. He had considered so many different ways that this could play out, so many different ways that Shiro could find a way out of this and live, but Keith was feeling the hope drain from his soul which each clash of the monster’s sword that hit Shiro’s metal arm. 

 

Shiro fought like a tornado, fast and flighty and downright dirty. He wasn’t fighting for honor and glory like his opponent, who Keith could only see as a monster. No, he was fighting for his life. It was so hopeless- if he managed to defeat this soldier Lotor would just send another one into the Arena to kill him- but he was still trying. Keith wanted nothing more than to switch places with him. Shiro was always a better man than him and he was not a traitor. Keith wasn’t either, but he’d much rather be called one than sit and do nothing while his best friend was murdered in cold blood in front of an audience. 

 

But he hadn’t been smart enough, hadn’t been quick enough,  _ hadn’t been enough  _ to save Shiro. He could only sit and watch, Lance’s hand over his and breath caught in his throat.

 

It didn’t feel real. 

 

The fight was painfully long. The fatigue slowly started to show on Shiro’s features, first in the droop of his shoulders, then in the slow pace of his movements. He was fighting so, so hard and Keith was so proud of how long he had held out so far, but he could tell that it wasn’t going to last much longer. He wanted to jump out of his seat and charge headfirst into the Arena himself and end the fight then and there and walk out with Shiro, but Lance’s hand in his held him in his seat. Other than the fact that Lance was holding onto him with a grip equivalent to rigor mortis, it held him in place as a reminder that there were people depending on him, that this treaty was more important than just one person, even his best friend. Lance was unknowingly acting as his impulse control, the ground for him to catch his footing. But it hurt so damn much. 

 

_ And there was nothing he could do about it.  _

 

Keith jumped to his feet as Shiro took a blow to his face that looked like it would be a fatal blow, but wasn’t. He stood again, blood starting to pour from the slice to his face, across his cheeks and his nose. It would leave a nasty scar if he survived. Even though there was no way he could. 

 

Finally, Shiro slipped up. He lost his foot, stumbling at the wrong moment when the soldier brought his sword back. Keith leaped from his seat, Lance having to pull him back as he fought back a scream.

 

In slow motion Keith watched as the blade pushed forward and into Shiro’s gut. He was glad they were up so high; he couldn’t see the way Shiro’s eyes widened with fear, the twist of his mouth at the horrible, unbearable pain, the last blink of his eyes as he died far too slowly, falling backwards with the sword still buried in him until the soldier yanked it out of his body, leaving him to bleed out on the Arena floor. 

 

The soldier lifted his sword and the audience cheered.

 

Shiro was dead.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey hey hey my dudes what do you mean it's not a friday or a thursday --
> 
> i'm gonna stop promising friday/thursday and just promise an update at least once every two weeks if y'all don't mind. 
> 
> thanks again for all of the comments and kudos since the last chapter!! i was feeling pretty down and stressed a lot over the last two/three weeks and it really made me happy to see that people are enjoying this fic, so i really do appreciate the feedback and love you guys have given me<3
> 
> also! i'm doing something really cool with a friend right now on twitter! it's a shance snapchat au art collab and i'm really happy with it (and my cute lance drawings are some of my faves of the summer o o p s). so yeah if you like shance and/or cute aus here's a link: https://twitter.com/i/moments/897274615411744773 !
> 
> Thanks to bry for betaing as always<3
> 
> big thanks to everyone for reading and to alex and chey for giving me the will to live while writing this chapter!


	10. Ruina Imperii

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this chapter is dedicated to the love of my life, the amazing chey (@graveyawns), who wrote the poem at the beginning of the chapter and so graciously let me use it, i love u 
> 
> 'Ruina Imperii: the fall of the empire"

_ Tell me where to draw the line _

_ What is honest and what is pretend _

_ Tell me where our love ends _

_ And where our friendship begins _

 

_ Confess to me the mistakes you’ve made _

_ And the excuses you’re tired of hearing _

_ Show me all the traits you hate _

_ And all the ones you find endearing _

 

_ Look at me with your soft eyes _

_ Overflowing with mixed emotions _

_ As I look at you with tired ones _

_ Filled with unwavering devotion _

 

For Shiro, there was nothing. He almost wished it would stay that way. 

 

 

* * *

 

 

Lance knew. He knew that Shiro wasn’t really dead. Not permanently. But holy hell, it looked so real. 

  
  


* * *

 

 

Keith watched in horror. What else could he do? He watched as the medics walked onto the field to cover the body-  _ Shiro-  _ and take it - _ him-  _ away. To be buried in an unmarked grave, a message to those who dared to defy the Galra Empire.

 

For a moment, he thought about Shiro’s family. He had never asked Shiro about them and Shiro had never told him. Did he have a family? He must. He must have had a family that loved him, that was out there among the stars waiting for him. Would they ever know about what had become of their son? Would they ever know how he served slavery and a war, only to be wrongfully cut down under a false accusation? Did Shiro have a mother that cried for him, a father that missed him more than tears could show? Siblings that were angry he left them too soon? Did they still hold out hope that even after all these years he would return to them? 

 

Keith would never know them, but in this moment, he knew their sorrow. He knew what they would never know. He knew their son was never coming home.

 

He felt Lance’s arms around his waist, both trying to comfort him and hold him back from jumping off the balcony and into the Arena himself to fight the bastard that had dared to kill Shiro. But Lance’s grip was unnecessary. Keith didn’t move nor did he make a sound. All he did was stand in complete silence as the crowd around him roared with sick glee. 

 

“Keith?” Lance’s voice cut through the crowd, just loud enough for only Keith to hear. “Keith?”

 

He wasn’t sure what the question in Lance’s voice was. 

 

He felt so empty. So completely lost that he didn’t even know how to react. His vision was growing blurry and his eyes had begun to sting. 

 

A single word passed from his lips without his consent, so soft in comparison to the anger and devastation that was building in his chest. “No…” 

 

And just like that, he snapped. Lance had let his guard down in his attempt to get Keith’s attention and Keith used it to his advantage, shooting out of the embrace like a bullet. He could hear Lance (and Lotor, for that matter) calling after him, but he couldn’t make out the words. It was all pointless noise. 

 

Unlike they had feared, he didn’t run to the arena. Instead, he ran down the halls to a place he hadn’t been in years. He remembered the path plain as day. It was where he’d gone to pick Shiro up when he’d been assigned to Keith’s side. He could still remember the surprise he’d felt when he saw the fire in Shiro’s eyes when deep brown met yellow for the first time. 

 

Now he would never get to see it burn again. 

 

He reached the small hospital-like room in no time. It was small for a reason: it was only ever used for patching up wounded, but worthwhile fighters and disposing of the bodies. They were normally dumped in unmarked graves, but the druids liked to get their hands on different species for their experiments. Keith had always found it creepy before, but now the idea repulsed him. 

 

He didn’t knock when he found the right door, instead choosing to barge in uninvited, startling Ulaz, the chief medic.

 

“Sir, you can’t be in-” Ulaz started to say, but Keith ignored him, pushing back to the sheet that Ulaz had been trying to shield from his view. 

 

When the prince put a hand on the corner of the sheet, suddenly afraid to pull it back, Ulaz didn’t try to stop him. Instead he simply stood back, allowing Keith to pull it back just enough to uncover the face below.

 

He wasn’t ready to see it. Then again, he never would have been. 

 

As he’d suspected, the cut across Shiro’s cheeks and over his nose was deep. It would certainly have left a nasty scar if given the chance to heal. Keith’s fingers touched it gingerly, almost as if he was afraid of doing more damage. He felt so detached suddenly, as if this wasn’t really Shiro he was seeing, that he might turn around and see Shiro behind him, laughing like it was some sort of a prank. 

 

Except it wasn’t. Shiro was… dead. 

 

The word repeated itself in Keith’s mind. Dead. Shiro is dead. Dead. 

 

The tears that had stung his eyes earlier started to fall down his cheeks as his breathing quickened. He forgot about Ulaz behind him, quiet and still as a board. There was only him and Shiro in the room for all he cared. And Shiro wasn’t even really there anymore. 

 

Keith sunk to his knees beside the table. He pulled his hand away from the deep cut that mauled Shiro’s face, some of the dried blood still plastered around it. He couldn’t look away. 

 

A sob tore it’s way out of Keith’s chest, the sound anguished and foreign to his ears. It was followed by another as his tears began to fall faster and faster and he choked on the air he tried to gasp into his lungs. 

 

He didn’t know how much time passed before he stopped. At some point Lance had arrived at his side, pulling him into a tight embrace, letting Keith sob against his shoulder. The Altean hadn’t tried to tell him that it was going to be okay, that Shiro was in a better place now. Keith was glad. He wouldn’t have received the words well at all. 

 

After an eternity, Ulaz had crouched down beside the pair. He looked so tired, so incredibly tired. “Sir, with all due respect, I really do need you to leave now.”

 

With a hiccup, Keith nodded and allowed Lance to pull him to his feet. He took one last look at his best friend and knew he should take it in, that he would never see Shiro again, not even dead. But he couldn’t bare to let his eyes linger any longer. 

 

He let Lance lead him out of the room, where they were intercepted by Queen Allura hurrying to the room being currently being used as a morgue. For just a moment, her eyes met Keith’s. The blue and pink was shiny almost, suggesting she might have shed a few tears of her own. He turned away. 

 

Queen Allura said something to her brother that Keith didn’t hear, but he saw the surprise register on Lance’s face as the queen turned away from him and pulled the metal door open, disappearing into the room. 

 

Lance looked shaken as he and Keith turned to leave, but Keith wasn’t up to asking him why. The pair continued down the dark hallway, Lance holding Keith’s hand in his. A quick glance at the Altean prince revealed a look of mixed emotions. For a moment, Keith considered asking Lance what the Queen had said, but he couldn’t bring himself to do it. It was like his dry mouth was sewn shut. 

 

Finally, they reached the hangar of the arena, where Lotor sat waiting for them with a smug smile on his face. He and Keith only made eye contact for a moment before Lance stepped between them, shielding them both from the other’s view. 

 

They didn’t have to wait long before a guard, an Altean one at that, came to them, bowing at only Lance as he spoke. “Your cousin wishes to see you.”

 

Lance didn’t look surprised. He only sighed and turned to the pair of brothers. “Go back without us. Allura and I have something to attend to, it seems.”

 

Before Keith could even protest, Lance had turned sharply on his heel, following the guard back to where they had come from.   
  


* * *

 

 

Shiro was dead. And then, all of a sudden, he wasn’t. And  _ Jesus Christ  _ being alive was painful. His entire body felt like it was on fire, each breath burning his lungs like an inferno from the depths of Hell itself. His face even hurt, his nose throbbing and his stomach- his stomach was the worst. There was something so wrong with his stomach but he couldn’t say what it was. It just hurt. 

 

After a few moments, he blinked, wincing at the bright light above him. Then, he started as two figures peared over him, blocking out the light.

 

“Shh,” a soft voice said, an even softer hand caressing his cheek. “You’re okay.”

 

Shiro wanted to point out that he very much didn’t feel okay, but it would probably be rude to contradict a queen. So he said nothing at all as the other figure above him spoke. He recognized the voice to be Ulaz’s. “He seems to be making a quick recovery. In a matter of hours he should be good as new.”

 

A voice belonging to someone out of Shiro’s line of sight chimed in. “We don’t have hours. If we don’t take advantage of the frenzy and execute the plan tonight we’ll have to wait weeks for another chance like this.”

 

“Lance, hush,” Allura said, turning to glance over her shoulder at what must have been Lance’s direction. “We just raised him from the dead, give him a moment to recover.”

 

Shiro could practically see Lance rolling his eyes. He took a deep breath. On one hand, it seemed that the Altean medicine worked and he really had just returned from the dead. On the other, he wasn’t ready to be alive again. If he was alive again, it meant that they were going to have to start executing their plan very, very soon. 

 

“I’m good,” Shiro said with a groan, startling Allura. She smiled down at him, though, not removing her hand from his cheek. 

 

“It’s good to see you alive again,” she said.

 

“It’s good to be alive again,” Shiro said, returning her smile. 

 

Lance appeared by her side suddenly, looking agitated. “It’s getting late. We’re running out of time.”

 

Allura raised an eyebrow at her cousin, clearly suspicious now. Shiro swallowed hard remembering Lance and his plan, hoping she wouldn’t catch on. “Since when you were in such a hurry to get this over with?”

 

Thankfully, Lance had been prepared for the question. Without skipping a beat, he replied, “I just want to get it over with. The anticipation is killing me.”

 

“I see.” Allura’s gaze softened and for a moment Shiro almost felt guilty about lying to her. Almost. 

 

“Shiro,” Ulaz said before the royals could go off on another tangent, “How are you feeling?”

 

Shiro shrugged best he could laying down. “Horrible. But I guess it could be worse.”

 

“You could be dead,” Lance pointed out, “Again.”

 

Shiro rolled his eyes. 

 

“Well,” Ulaz said, “If you’re feeling well enough, I’d say it is time to begin preparations to carry out our plan.”

 

Shiro tried to ignore the doubt lingering in his mind, the building anxiety. He couldn’t show how nervous he felt. He was good at hiding things like that, this was no different. “I’m ready.”

 

“Then let us begin.”

  
  


It turned out that preparations really didn’t take that long. After so many months of planning, Lance could barely believe that his plan was finally about to happen. He could also barely believe that he was that one that was going to sabotage it. But there was no way he was going to let Keith die.

 

The plan was overly simple. That way if anything went wrong it could be easily remedied. Allura was going to stay behind with Coran and Ulaz, despite the Queen insisting that she should be going to. She’d given up the argument, knowing that she was going to need to be alive no matter how this ended. The trio would go to a ship just out of orbit to await the away team. 

 

Shiro was going to be leading Thace, Kolivan, Lance, and Antokt into the castle. There was an old slaves entry that had been abandoned before the war that they were going to use. They would split up once they were inside, Thace in charge of going after Zarkon, Kolivan to Lotor. Antok would go after Keith, while Shiro and Lance stood guard at their exit. Should any of the assassins need backup, Shiro was to go and leave Lance at the exit. Being royalty, he was going to be the last to put himself in the line of fire if need be. 

 

Of course, he and Shiro had other plans.

 

Not too long after reviving Shiro, the time had come for the plan to come to fruition. The party doned their weapons and armor with a tense silence. Lance and Shiro never tried to meet each other’s eyes, desperate to avoid suspicion. 

 

Lance had no seconds doubts about trusting Shiro. Maybe it was because he looked like he could almost be Altean, but deep down Lance felt like he could trust him. He could only hope that that wouldn’t bite him in the ass later. After all, they shared the same goal of saving Keith.

 

Keith, the stupid prince Lance had spent so many years being compared to. Keith, the headstrong commander with the most deadly fleet in the Galra army. Keith, the boy who Lance had foolishly kissed at the festival that seemed like a lifetime ago. Keith, who liked Altean food and had horrible nightmares that left him waking up screaming and broke Lance’s heart. 

 

Keith, the prince Lance wasn’t supposed to fall for, but did anyways. 

 

Lance wasn’t going to lose him now. 

 

They were finally about to leave when Lance heard his name being called. He turned to see his cousin standing behind him. Only years of familiarity revealed the tenseness of her shoulders and the wobble in her voice. He felt like someone was stabbing his chest.

 

“Lance,” she said, again, crossing the distance between them to pull him into a tight hug, one which he gratefully returned. “Be careful.”

 

He hesitated, thinking of how he was about to betray her. “I always am, Allura.”

 

She snorted at that, releasing him from her grasp. Then, she turned to the whole group, standing tall and proud before them. Lance’s heart swelled with adoration at the strong leader his cousin had become since the death of his uncle. It had been a tough road, but it was about to be well worth it if they succeeded. And they would succeed, save for Keith. 

 

He suspected that Allura would give them some sort of pep talk, but she didn’t. All she was a simple, “Good luck.”

 

And with that, they were off.

 

The flight out of the Arena and to the planet seemed to drag as anxiety built in Lance’s chest. He must have looked as nervous as he felt because Shiro, who sat next to him, leaned over. “Hey, it’s going to be okay. It’s going to go just fine.”

 

He sounded so sure of his words that it did actually make Lance feel better. He offered Shiro a weak smile in return. “I got this.” 

 

Shiro nudged his shoulder. “There’s the spirit.”

 

They managed to land without a hitch incredibly close to their entrance. Quiet as mice, they all dropped to the ground. Night had fallen since they’d begun their preparations, shielding them from any guards that might have strayed from their path. 

 

“It’s this way,” Shiro hissed, nodding to his right before taking off, moving at the speed of light as the others dashed behind him. 

 

It took only a minute for them to reach the entrance, the cold metal door opening with a touch of Shiro’s metal hand to the scanner. So far, so good. 

 

They entered through what Lance assumed was the kitchens. It was dark, but his eyes had already adjusted to make up for the lack of light. 

 

The huddled together for a moment as Thace started to whisper. “All right, it’s time. Everyone aware of what they must do?”

 

They all nodded. 

 

“Great. We’ll leave one by one to avoid being caught. If one of us gets caught, the others are to continue to follow the plan. Remember, if you need help, signal for Shiro. Antok, you’ll go first.”

 

Lance’s eyes widened. Keith, being considered the least threatening of the three royals, was supposed to be targeted last. That was how Shiro and Lance were going to save him. They’d been planning on taking Antok out (not fatally, of course, but would probably have left him with a nasty headache when he woke up) before going after Keith themselves. With Antok leaving first, that was impossible. 

 

Panic started to boil in Lance’s stomach. What if they failed because of this? Why the sudden change of plans? Had Thace figured out what they’d been planning? He looked to Shiro, who didn’t return his gaze. 

 

“Sir,” Shiro started, frowning at Thace, “with all due respect, is it really a good idea to change the order now? Shouldn’t our first priority be the King and Lotor?” 

 

Thace shook his head. “I want everyone to be in position before we begin. The signal remains the same. It’s a more secure bet that if everyone does their part at the same time we will succeed.”

 

“Shouldn’t we have discussed this ahead of time,” Lance responded with a hiss, glaring at Thace without meaning to. Thace looked unfazed.

 

“No.” He turned and nodded to Antok, who took off down the path that Shiro had outlined for them just hours before. 

 

Lance just watched in horror as Thace repeated the movement and Kolivan took off before taking off himself. 

 

Once they were all out of sight, Lance turned to Shiro in a panic. “Well  _ fuck,  _ what do we do now?”

 

Shiro was frowning. “Let’s follow Antok now. The signal still hasn’t been given, so we still have time to take him out before he has the chance to kill Keith.”

 

Lance shuddered at the way Shiro said it so casually. Even in the face of the possibility, he couldn’t imagine anyone wanting to kill Keith. 

 

They took off in the same direction that Antok had gone, going as quickly and quietly as they could. Lance’s heart pounded in his chest.

 

“We’re almost there,” Shiro assured him barely minutes later. Lance could only nod in response. 

 

Just then, a high pitched screech sounded in both of their ears from their helmets. Lance’s blood ran cold as his pace picked up, running carelessly, without a damn whether or not anyone heard his footsteps. Shiro was right by his side as he registered the noise as the signal.

 

God, Lance hoped they weren’t too late. 

  
  


* * *

 

 

Keith didn’t remember falling asleep. He’d taken the ship to his planet back with Lotor, a silent and uncomfortable ride. Keith couldn’t meet his brother’s eyes, knowing the glee he would find in them. It would have sent him over the edge, into a fit of pure rage that wouldn’t have ended well for either of them. So silence it was. 

 

The ride was a short one and the second they landed Keith had gone to the training room, destroying training bot after training bot in an attempt to distract himself from his anger and devastation. It hadn’t worked, but he had worn himself out to near exhaustion, so he couldn’t complain too much about it. Still, it wasn’t enough. He hadn’t had the energy to even shower afterwards, simply changing and collapsing onto his bed only to stare at the ceiling.

 

Despite himself, he found that he missed Lance. Where had his fiance gone, anyways? Keith was almost bitter, wishing that Lance had stayed by his side. But they both still had their duties, so Keith tried to not hold a grudge over it. It didn’t quite work. 

 

Eventually, though, his eyes grew heavy and he drifted off into a fitful sleep, the images of Shiro’s death playing behind his eyes over and over again.

 

He woke feeling like he was suffocating.

 

It took him less than thirty seconds to realize that he actually was, that there were hands around his neck, and that  _ he couldn’t breathe.  _

 

The feeling was so familiar that he panicked instantly, trying to thrash out against the weight pressing on him. It was dark, but he still managed to identify the intruder as a Galra. He didn’t recognize this specific Galra, despite there being something eerily familiar about him. 

 

He fought back, but his vision was becoming spotty and his movements heavy. The grip around his neck tightened as the Galra’s eyes met his own. 

 

“I am going to enjoy this,” he said, his voice deep and filled with a sick glee. “My brother died under your orders. He deserved better.”

 

Keith couldn’t respond even if he’d wanted to, but words were failing him anyways. He was still desperately trying to gasp for air, but none came. Then, all of a sudden, alarms began to blare and the grip around his neck was released. He coughed, barely having time to choke on the air before he started thrashing again in an attempt to get the Galra off of him. Still, the weight on his chest was too great and the man was pulling a knife out of a sheath at his side, sighing. “Well, I guess I’ll have to follow the plan after all.”

 

Keith pushed up with as much force as he could, throwing the man off guard finally. He managed to get his weight off of Keith’s left side and concentrated on his right, making it easier for him to swing a leg and plant a kick in the intruder’s side. The man growled in frustration and Keith managed to shove him off the bed. 

 

Keith barely registered the fight, allowing his body to do the thinking for him. When the assassin swung left, he went under, throwing a kick. It seemed to last an eternity, while in actuality it was almost no time at all. 

 

Still, for all his might, he was weaponless while the other man was not. Keith took multiple hits from the knife, hissing with pain at each one while simultaneously refusing to let it slow him down. 

 

Then, all of a sudden, two things happened at once.

 

The first was that the intruder got lucky. Keith left his side vulnerable in a bet that he could take the offensive, but he miscalculated and was penalized for it with a sharp, deep cut into his side. The second was that, out of nowhere, there was a purple and white blur smashing into the intruder, growling and throwing punches. 

 

Lance honestly hadn’t expected Shiro to snap like he had, diving at Antok the second they entered the room. But he did and Lance, having only been able to stand and watch in horror as Keith took a knife to the side, followed by Shiro lunging and forcing Antok to the ground, the Galra’s head hitting the ground with a sickening thud. Lance hoped desperately, for Shiro’s sake, that he wasn’t dead, but he wasn’t sure. 

 

Then, Keith staggered and Lance had tunnel vision, shooting over to him like a bullet. He was still holding a blaster so he couldn’t throw his arms around Keith like he wanted to, but instead managed to put a hand on his fiance’s shoulder to steady him. If they could still be considered engaged after this treaty went to hell. Amidst the sudden quietness of the room now that Antok was out for the count, Lance found himself sorely hoping that they would be. He wouldn’t be surprised if Keith refused to ever speak to him again, though. 

 

“Keith,” he said, meeting the confused yellow eyes with his own, “Breathe.”

 

He could tell that Keith had been doing the opposite of that. His breathing was heavy, but he was hyperventilating, working against himself in a desperate attempt to get as much air as he could. Lance held firmly onto his shoulder, looking him dead in the eyes. “Keith, babe. Breathe.”

 

Keith nodded, looking like a deer trapped in headlights as his breathing began to even out. His side was beginning to darken with blood oozing from the cut on his side. 

 

“We have to move fast,” Shiro said, voicing Lance’s next thought. 

 

Keith’s reaction caught them both off guard.

 

“What the fuck?” He shouted at the both of them, pulling back from Lance’s grip. He was looking frantically back and forth between the two of them. The confusion etched into his expression made Lance’s heart feel like someone was pulling it in two different directions. 

 

Then, recovering just a little, Keith lunged at Shiro, throwing his arms around him. Lance couldn’t help but look away, feeling like he was intruding on a moment he didn’t belong in. Still, he could hear Keith as he let out a sob, muttering, “I thought you were dead.”

 

“I can explain later,” Shiro said softly, to which Lance finally looked back at the pair, “But we really do have to get going.”

 

Lance watched as Keith let go of Shiro, annoyed at himself for the jealousy he had to fight back. Sure, Shiro had just risen from the dead, but Lance would have appreciated a hug too, even if he didn’t deserve one. 

 

The alarms began to blare for a second time and Lance could hear the pounding footsteps of drones approaching. “Shiro’s right. We need to move.”

 

Keith gave him a look that Lance couldn’t read, but he tried to not read into it too much. “The second,” Keith said, “The second we get out of here, you both are explaining what the fuck is going on.”

 

Lance and Shiro nodded in unison before the three of them bolted towards the door. The sound of sentries approaching was growing louder, but Shiro nodded for the pair to follow them as they ran in the opposite direction.

 

Lance kept his eye on Keith as they ran. “How bad is it?”

 

“How bad is what?” Keith asked. “My injury or my pride?”

 

Lance rolled his eyes at him. “Your injury.”

 

“Well, actually, it’s just peachy, thanks.”

 

Lance had to fight the urge to stick his tongue out at Keith, who was still wincing and clutching his side, but keeping pace. Maybe the cut wasn’t as deep as it initially had looked. 

 

Outside of the blare of alarms, they met nearly no obstacles in the path towards their exit, only a few sentries, which Lance took out with ease.

 

“Where’d you learn to shoot?” Keith asked after Lance’s third shot.

 

“During the war,” Lance said casually and with a shrug. Despite most believing that he had been benched throughout most of the war, that wasn’t the case. Instead, he’d had his own role to play outside of coming up with strategies. (Although he had proven to be rather good at that.)

 

Keith looked at him with what seemed to be a new kind of respect and seemed like he was going to speak before he was cut off by a shot behind them. Lance spun around, firing aimlessly behind them in an attempt to hit the guards that had finally caught up to them. He took out a few, but more just kept coming. And they were so close to their exit, too. 

 

“We’re almost there,” Shiro confirmed, looking over his shoulder as Lance stopped firing to catch up with the other two. 

 

“Thank quiznak,” Lance muttered.

 

“You’re still not using that word right,” Keith pointed out and this time Lance actually did stick his tongue out with him.

 

More shots were fired at them from their left, Lance screeching in surprise and also in pain as a bullet tore into his side and through his stomach. He was surprised for a moment at the fact that a bullet, of all things, had hit him. Standard guns had been traded for blasters years ago, who the hell still used bullets? 

 

He managed to turn his gaze to where the shot had come from just in time to see a blur of white hair retreating behind a pillar. 

 

“Lance?’ Keith asked, clearly having seem Lance take the hit, “Are you good?”

 

Lance was not good, already lightheaded and feeling like his side was draining blood, but he nodded anyways, forcing a smile onto his face. “Just peachy.”

 

Still, he couldn’t keep up the act forever. He began to slow down unintentionally more and more as they came across more and more groups of drones, which he shot down every time. Where the hell was their exit? He remembered Shiro saying that they were getting close, but shouldn’t they have been there by now? 

 

His vision was going in and out now and he could feel his own blood draining down his side and down his front. He pressed his hand not carrying the blaster to his stomach, hoping that that would at least stay the bleeding, but his hand was wet and sticking in just seconds. He hoped briefly that Keith’s wounds were faring better than his. 

 

“Lance, pick up the pace,” Shiro instructed, finally realizing that the Altean prince was beginning to fall behind. 

 

“Yes, sir,” Lance replied, his breathing noticeably labored now. They were so close… But the pain was starting to become unbearable, coming from both his side and from his front. He was still rather pissed that Lotor, of all people, had managed to hit him with such a precise shot, but there wasn’t much he could do about it now. He’d succeeded in saving Keith’s life. That was all he’d wanted to do. They just had to make it a little farther.

 

He couldn’t, though. He staggered, barely registering Keith spinning frantically to catch him as Lance fell against him, dizzy and losing his vision quickly.

 

“Lance! Lance?” Keith’s voice was anything but calming, frantic and scared. “Oh shit, oh shit, Shiro-”

 

Lance suddenly felt a pair of arms scooping him off the ground, strong and firm under his back and knees. He wanted to protest that he didn’t need to be carried, but he barely had the strength to keep his eyes open, let alone talk. 

 

“Lance, I swear, if you die now, I’m going to kill you,” Keith said as they started to move. 

 

Lance managed a smile at that, trying to ignore how scared and worried Keith sounded as the world started to fade to black around him. He really didn’t want to die, but at least Keith was safe. 

 

“He isn’t going to die. I promise,” Shiro said, trying to reassure Keith, but also indirectly doing the same for Lance, too. His voice was steady and strong, trustworthy. Lance was glad he’d gotten him to play along with his scheme. 

 

He so desperately wanted to stay awake, to see his plan through, to get home safely, but he couldn’t stop his vision fading completely and his consciousness leaving him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> y'all thought i was done with cliffhangers? naw.  
> also!! there's more amazing art for this story, this time by the amazing Zola! check it out on twitter!! https://twitter.com/Zolanort/status/905384904254296064
> 
> on the bright side, a little spoiler, but hunk and pidge are finally going to make an appearance again in the next chapter!  
> as always, a huge thank you to bry for betaing, and to all of you for reading! please leave a kudos and a comment (i l i v e for them ok) if you liked it!  
> and, i did begin college (woohoo!) about two weeks ago, which is why this chapter is so late. i'll try to keep a two week updating schedule now, but please bare with me if it takes a little longer! thanks everyone!


	11. Long Live the King

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> heads up i lied about hunk and pidge being in this chapter

Keith wasn’t sure what he felt.

 

Did he feel empty? Alone? Scared?

 

In truth, he just felt hopeless.

 

They’d reached the rendezvous just after Lance had fallen limp in Shiro’s arms. Keith could hear screaming as they boarded, only later realizing that it had been his own voice ripping from his lungs and tearing his throat to pieces. Alarms had been blaring almost loud enough to drown them out, ship after ship following them as they left the planet’s atmosphere. Keith was sure that they were being shot at, but he couldn’t focus on that. Kolivan was flying the plane while simultaneously demanding Shiro explain what had happened- and where Antok was.

 

Antok, the Galra who had been trying to kill Keith less than an hour ago. Keith could still feel the hands around his neck, tightening their grip as the air began to leave his lungs… He shook his head, desperate to snap out of it. What was done was done. He had survived. Now… Now he just had to hope that Lance did, too.

 

Shiro had gently placed Lance on the floor at their feet, an indignant place for a prince, but was the best option on the small, cramped vessel they were using to make their escape. Keith had dropped down next to him, cradling Lance’s head in his lap, running his fingers through Lance’s hair. It was supposed to be a reassuring gesture, although he doubted Lance could feel it. Thace, to Keith’s numb surprise, had run to Lance’s side, hastily applying what seemed to be gauze around the Altean prince’s middle. As surprised as Keith was, he couldn’t feel the betrayal and anger that he should feel towards Thace now. He didn’t know what exactly Thace’s roll in this had been, but it was something Keith could deal with later. Thace hadn’t been able to meet his eyes. Keith hadn’t bothered to try and speak to him, to try and ask what was going on, why they were trying to kill him. As a sort of afterthought, Keith realized that he should probably be a little worried about being in a ship full of people who apparently wanted him dead (except for Lance and Shiro, who clearly had been disobeying orders when they’d saved Keith’s life if Kolivan’s reaction was anything to go by). But he wouldn’t- couldn’t- think about any of that right now. All he could think about was Lance, how pale his tan skin had looked when Keith turned to him, the haggard gasps that came from Lance’s mouth as he tried to breathe, the sudden weight of him sagging against Keith before Shiro had scooped him up as they ran. 

 

Keith continued to comb his fingers through Lance’s hair, tuning out the sounds of the others arguing with Shiro, presumably about Keith. All he could focus on was watching Lance’s face for any signs of movement, anything to indicate that he might be waking up. There were none. 

 

Still, Keith felt the stares of each and every one of them on the vessel, all of whom had to be questioning what exactly he was doing there. Shiro had a hand on Keith’s shoulder, his grip hard enough to make a mark most likely, but it was grounding. It was a silent reassurance that everything was going to be okay, despite the fact that Keith wasn’t so sure it would be. But for now, Lance’s chest was still rising and falling, slowly of course, but visibly enough to let them all know that he was alive. At least he was for now. 

 

They were moving too slowly for Keith’s liking. He wanted to get Lance to a medic as soon as possible. But the time kept dragging on far too slowly, and the hasty bandages wrapped around Lance’s waist were starting to turn a deep red color. He wasn’t sure how much time Lance had left. Enough to get him to a medic, Keith prayed. If not… Well, he didn’t want to think about that. 

 

Finally, the eternity seemed to end as Kolivan landed the ship into a hangar that Keith didn’t recognize. Keith moved immediately to help pick Lance up, but suddenly there was a pair of hands on his shoulders, pulling him back. Keith started, trying to yank his body away from the surprise, but the grip only tightened, heaving him to his feet. Before Keith could react, still in too much shock to move as quickly as he wanted to, cuffs were slammed onto his wrists and tightened hard enough to cut off the circulation to his hands. A loud shout next to him suggested that the same was being done to Shiro. Keith didn’t look to make sure, instead focusing his energy to try and free himself as Kolivan reached down and scooped Lance off the floor quickly. Lance’s head rolled in Kolivan’s arms. 

 

“Let me go,” Keith snarled at him, making to move towards the man, but the same pair of hands from before clamped down on his shoulders. “Get off of me!” 

 

He struggled still as Kolivan darted off the ship with Lance in his arms before being shoved out behind him. He could hear others pushing Shiro forward, as well, if the man’s curses were anything to go by. He still couldn’t quite believe that Shiro was alive, but he could ask those questions once he knew that Lance was safe. Lance, who was currently still being carried away from him in Kolivan’s arms. Keith struggled to pull free, to run to him, to take him from Kolivan and take him to safety himself, despite logically knowing that whatever was going on here, it was probably Lance’s best bet for survival. That didn’t make him want to get to him any less. But the grip holding him was too strong to break, so he walked at the pace that they moved him at. He halfheartedly wondered what they were going to do with him. He doubted their intentions had changed just because Lance had spared his life once. He didn’t think it would happen a second time. 

 

The bay doors opened just twenty feet ahead of them. A figure dressed in white and pink started to dart towards them before abruptly skidding to a holt. Then the figure, who Keith finally realized was the Queen Allura, let out an awful cry and ran to Kolivan. Keith’s view was  blocked, but he could see that she was holding her cousin’s limp head with her dark hands, pressing her forehead to his for only a moment before looking up sharply to Kolivan. 

 

“What happened?” She demanded, her words somehow both frantic and eerily controlled as they left her lips. 

 

“Your Highness, he must be taken to medical-”

 

The Queen cut him off, barking out “Matt!” before the door opened again behind her. Keith’s eyes widened at the sight of a druid, of all creatures, rushing to her side to inspect the damage. Queen Allura turned to him, gesturing at her dying cousin. “Please… do everything you can.”

 

The druid- Matt- nodded, swiftly taking the prince from Kolivan’s hands. For a moment, Keith was worried that the druid might drop Lance- after all, he looked like he was built of twigs- but he was glad to be proven wrong as the man seemed to have no trouble at all rushing through the bay doors with Keith’s fiance in his arms. Keith tried to surge forward again, not wanting to let Lance out of his side for even the briefest of seconds and succeeded, breaking free of the hold on him. Recklessly, he darted forward towards the bay door, but quickly found his body smacking onto the cold floor, a cord tangled around his ankles. Unable to throw out his hands and slow his stop, he’d managed to (once again) hit his head, groaning at the sudden disorientation. 

 

“What is  _ he _ doing here?” Allura demanded, spitting the words at Kolivan like poison. 

 

Keith blinked and looked up at her, not at all surprised to see the hatred bubbling behind her eyes. 

 

“Your Highness, that’s a question you should be asking your cousin or this one,” Kolivan answered, jerking his head towards where Shiro stood, held in place by Thace. 

 

Keith watched as Allura’s anger softened for just a moment, but then returned with the might of God as she stormed over to Shiro and Thace. She barely looked like she could contain her fury as she stopped in front of Shiro. She stood completely still for a moment before raising her hand, slapping Shiro across the face as hard as she possibly could. The sound made even Keith wince. Shiro, for his part, managed to keep from reacting too much, just returning her gaze with a sad one of his own. 

 

“I should have never trusted you,” She snapped. Keith wasn’t sure who she was more angry at: Shiro or herself. 

 

“Your cousin asked for my help,” Shiro said. His tone was soft and sad. 

 

Allura blanched at that, confusion overtaking the anger written on her face. “He what? No, that’s-”

 

“Exactly what happened,” Shiro finished for her. “And when he wakes up he will tell you exactly that.”

 

“He… fucking hell.” Allura shook her head. She sounded like she didn’t want to believe Shiro, but the uncertainty she was feeling was obvious. Until, of course, she looked back over at Keith and her expression became pure contempt once again. She turned to Kolivan, jerking her head towards the Galra prince. “Get him out of my sight. I need to think.”

 

With a flick of her wrist, the whip holding onto Keith’s legs retreated, snapping back to hang by Allura’s side. Rough hands hauled him to his feet.

 

There was too much going on. Keith needed to stop and think, for once in his goddamn life. Most of all, he just wanted to see Lance. He needed to know that the other prince was going to be okay. 

 

“Where are you taking him?” Shiro asked as the guards began to lead Keith away. 

 

“A holding cell. One you’ll be finding yourself in as soon as you answer our questions,” Thace responded. For the first time, Keith looked over his shoulder to meet his eyes. Thace’s face lacked any emotion, which almost hurt more than if he’d looked with any hatred or anger directed towards Keith. 

 

With no other ideas, Keith let himself be dragged away, watching as Shiro stared helplessly after him. 

 

 

* * *

 

 

Hours past as Keith paced in his cell. For the first hour, he’d banged on the walls, demanding they let him out, threats and curses leaving his mouth in shouts that he hadn’t been able to muster before it had truly set in that they were locking him away to rot. He cursed himself for not fighting back when he had the chance. Now that he’d yelled himself hoarse, he could only pace in silence. Now that he was running out of blinding anger, he couldn’t keep the fear from creeping in in its place. The silence was beginning to terrify him. He hated being in dark, enclosed places enough without having other anxieties plaguing him as well.

 

He was still processing it all. The surprise attack, the feeling of hands around his throat, the sight of Lance in Shiro’s arms. His head hurt thinking about what all of this meant. Obviously, the Alteans had staged an assassination attempt, possibly killed his father or brother or both, and wanted to kill him to. But the question of  _ what if _ was too much to think about right now.

 

And, if he was honest, most of all he was worried about Lance. He knew that that made him a pretty shit prince, more worried about the fate of his fiance than that of his empire, but he just couldn’t keep Lance off his mind. Hell, he didn’t even know if Lance was still alive. 

 

He wasn’t sure what he would do if Lance died. He’d survived fine without Lance before, he could do it again. But he didn’t want to. 

 

Keith was still drowning in horrible thoughts when the door to his cell opened, Shiro stumbling in, before the door slammed behind him. Keith ran to his side, not even hesitating to throw his arms around Shiro as the other embraced him, burying his face in Shiro’s shoulder. 

 

He hadn’t realized how glad he was to Shiro until now.

 

“I saw you die,” he muttered, his words muffled by Shiro’s shirt. 

 

“I’m sorry,” Shiro said. “I promise I won’t let it happen again.” 

 

Keith snorted, finally pulling out of the hug after a moment. “How?”

 

“The Alteans are more cunning than we ever imagined,” Shiro said, grimacing at his words. He was right- no Galra could have seen this coming from their foe. 

 

“You’re telling me,” Keith sighed, sliding down the wall to sit, resting his head on his knees. Shiro followed suit, putting a hand on Keith’s shoulder. 

 

“There’s a lot you should know,” Shiro said, staring ahead at the dark wall in front of them. 

 

And then he began to tell Keith everything.

  
  


* * *

 

 

_ “Lance!”  _

  
  


_ The shout pierced through the sounds of battle around them. Lance whipped his head over his shoulder, maps haphazardly thrown on the table in front of him. _

 

_ “What?” He snapped, all but ready to pull his hair out. _

 

_ “We have to evacuate,” the soldier- Lance couldn’t remember his name- said. “We’ve lost the colony.” _

 

_ “No!” Lance shook his head. There had to be a way. He couldn’t lose any more ground to that damn Galra prince’s forces. The brat Keith had already taken too much of his pride, too much of his land, too many of his people’s lives for Lance to handle. He couldn’t stand to lose any more.  _

 

_ “Your Highness, please-” The man was cut off by the sound of an explosion- a close one, at that- with the sounds of the blast drowning out all other noise, until it bled into screams. The screams of the people Lance hadn’t been smart enough to save. _

 

_ He cursed, swiping a hand across the desk, all of his maps and plans flying into the air. He needed to think. He had to. But there was no time. _

 

_ “Right,” he finally said, taking a deep breath. “We’ll retreat. But I want this place rigged to blow, get it done as quickly as possible while evacuating as many Alteans as you can. Prince Keith can take this base, but I will watch happily as it blows up in his face.” _

 

_ The soldier nodded and rushed off to carrier out Lance’s orders. Lance sighed, turning back to his table, glancing to the papers he’d thrown to the floor. He hated losing, but he knew when to count his casualties and run. He wanted the petty satisfaction of beating the Galra prince himself, but that would have to wait for another day. Another day would come when Lance could happily run his blade through the bastard’s heart himself if he had to. He just wished it would come sooner.  _

 

_ He took one last look around the room before turning and moving to the door, slamming it shut behind him. There was no sorrow in his expression as he walked down the corridor, turning the corner to where his generals were waiting for him.  _

 

_ “The evacuation is running smoothly. It seems that Prince Keith is only interested in destroying the airfields, not civilian homes,” one told him. _

 

_ Lance could have guessed that on his own. It wasn’t the assholes style to take out anything more than tactical positions and anything that could hinder military operations. “Right, of course.”  _

 

_ “Your ship is ready to leave as soon as you are,” Hunk said, glancing around the generals and to Lance. He had to hastily add, “Your Highness.” _

 

_ If Lance wasn’t already frowning, he would be now. Hunk was his best friend, but Lance was still a prince. This was still his fault, but everyone still had to report to him. His title was a cruel reminder of his failure. But he nodded and put his chin up. “We will wait for the rest of the troops. We’re not leaving anyone behind.” _

 

_ The others, used to Lance pulling shit like this, all looked uncomfortable with the idea, but nodded. They knew better than to talk back to their prince over something like this.  _

 

_ “It should be minutes now, at most,” the same general from before said. He must be new because Lance couldn’t think of his name for the life of him. He’d have to ask once they were out of this mess. _

 

_ Minutes passed in silence. Lance was starting to feel antsy, but then Hunk’s communicator went off. Hunk put it to his ear, nodding after a moment and dropping his hand to his side. “The army is ready to move out.” _

 

_ “Good,” Lance said, “Let’s get to my ship, then, folks.” _

 

_ They made it all of two feet before the room exploded around them.  _

 

_ Lance felt himself being thrown against the wall before it actually registered in his mind what was going on, his entire body erupting in pain as his ears starting ringing. All around him, his generals were scrambling to their feet. He tried to follow suit, but stumbled, falling forward onto his knees when he tried to stand. Hunk was by his side in an instant.  _

 

_ “Shit,” Hunk said, hoisting Lance to his feet. “You don’t look good, buddy.” _

 

_ “What are you talking about?” Lance muttered, his voice barely audible over the ringing in his ears, “I always look stunning.” _

 

_ “Yeah, sure,” Hunk replied, moving to wrap an arm under Lance’s legs, pulling him into the air. “I’ve got to get you out of here before they drop another bomb.” _

 

_ “I like that idea,” Lance muttered. His vision was going dark. He was half aware of the fact that he should be panicking right now, but everything felt so… detached.  _

 

_ Hunk shook him a little as he ran. “Stay with me, Lance. Your cousin will have my head if you die on me now.” _

 

_ “I’m not gonna die,” Lance retorted, but it lacked any real mirth, or even energy for that matter. He was half aware that he was in pain, but it was just an afterthought. Right now, everything was just an afterthought. He wished he could see properly, but everything was becoming blurry and dark. “Hunk, I can’t see right.” _

 

_ “Shit,” Hunk muttered in response, stopping for just a moment. He set Lance down, fumbling with his pockets for a moment before pulling out a needle. Lance didn’t recognize it. “I really hope this works.” _

 

_ Then, he was jamming the needle into Lance’s arm. Lance yelped with surprise, but the effort made him see stars. “What was that?” _

 

_ “I’m not sure,” Hunk admitted. “Your cousin gave it to me. She said to use it on you if you were ever…” _

 

_ “If I was ever what, Hunk?” _

 

_ “Dying.” _

 

_ Oh. Lance knew he should be afraid, but he wasn’t. He didn’t feel anything. Absentmindedly, he supposed he must be going into shock. Still, he didn’t want to die. Hunk lifted him up again, and Lance realized that he was having trouble breathing.  _

 

_ “Stay with me,” Hunk said again. Lance could barely hear him over the roaring in his ears.  _

 

_ The world was starting to fade to black as another explosion shook the walls around them. _

 

Lance woke in a cold sweat, thrashing around. There was a shout as his hand connected with flesh and he was pinned down in an instant. 

 

His vision was blurry and but he blinked rapidly to try and clear it as quickly as he could. He recognized his cousin’s worried expression hovering just over him. The arms that were pinning him down, he realized, were Matt’s. He took a deep, shaky breath. 

 

Then everything came rushing back.

 

The mission. Saving Keith- leaving Antok for dead. Getting shot. Keith.

 

Keith.

 

Keith.

 

_ Keith. _

 

“Keith?” Allura asked, her frown deepening. Lance hadn’t even realized he had spoken aloud. 

 

“Keith,” he repeated, struggling against Matt’s grip to sit up. He felt weak and his stomach ached, a deep and dull pain, but he struggled anyways. After a moment, Matt sighed and relented, letting go. 

 

“Keith,” Lance said, the name tasting like fear on his tongue, “Where’s Keith? Is he- is he-”

 

“He’s alive,” Allura cut in quickly, grabbing his hand and squeezing it.

 

Lance let out a sigh of relief. He had to thank all the gods for that. Now that he knew Keith was alive, though, he had to know: “And the mission?”

 

“The emperor is dead,” Allura told him, squeezing his hand once again. “But… Lotor lives.”

 

Lance’s heart sank. 

 

“He’s alive?” He had guess as much. After all, he was pretty sure he had a good idea of who shot him. “So we…”

 

His cousin nodded. The light was catching in her hair so beautifully. She looked unbearably sad in to him.

 

“We failed.” 

  
  


* * *

 

 

Keith wasn’t sure how much time passed in the dark with Shiro. It could have been hours. It could have been days. They weren’t offered food or water. His entire body was too numb to notice, though. 

 

He wasn’t sure how he felt.

 

Betrayed by the Alteans. Humiliated for falling for their plan. Afraid of what was going to come next.

 

The Alteans were going to kill him. He was smart enough to know that that was certain. 

 

He wasn’t afraid of death. He hadn’t been for a long time.

 

But as he sat in the dark, with the seconds ticking away until his inevitable execution, he felt fear grip at his heart. Fear that he was never going to hear Lance laugh again. Fear that he would never get to joke with Shiro again as they sparred. Fear that he’d die without even knowing whether or not Lance was alive. 

 

The dark swallowed him. 

  
  


* * *

 

 

Across the galaxy, a message was being broadcast. 

 

An image of a prince who now wore the crown of the fallen king. 

 

His words were not a warning.

 

They were a declaration of war. 

 

“My brother,” Lotor’s voice boomed, sad and prideful, “the Prince Keith, conspired with the Alteans in a coup to overthrow my father. They succeeded in killing the Emperor Zarkon, yes, but our family still stands tall with me as its head. I will take my father’s place and hunt down my traitor brother, as well as the Altean scum that helped him.”

 

His eyes were dark.

 

“My brother wishes to divide our empire into a chaotic and deadly civil war. Any Galra that even dares to think of standing by his side, know this: you will die by his side. Stand with him and you will fall.”

 

_ War, _ the galaxy whispers.  _ The war has begun.  _

 

_ No.  _

 

_ It’s returned.  _

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> it's been a year. i know. 
> 
> i've read every comment. thank each and every one of you for supporting this fic and for your kind words. i haven't replied to every comment and for that i apologize. it's a habit i'm going to change because i want each and every one of you to know how much i appreciate them.
> 
> this chapter has been a long time coming. most of it was actually written in one sitting back in february, right after katsucon. after the last chapter last september, i fell out of love with vld and klance due to some issues in the fandom i don't want to get into now because it's still something i don't like to think about. to be honest, i left the fandom almost completely and, outside of this fic, don't plan on going back to it. but in the back of my mind, i always felt guilty for leaving this fic on a cliffhanger like that and completely unfinished. i had so many ideas for this fic and it broke my heart at times to not be able to write them. every time i tried to write it, i just... couldn't. but i loved this fic and i want to finish. or at least put the ideas out into the world. i dont know if I'm going to do anything more with it as a fic. but i love this idea. so if u see a book or movie series with a plot like this (im a video production/screenwriting major so it's Possible) don't @ me lmao
> 
> thank you all so much for your support. 
> 
> also- i'm still on social media. my twitter and tumblr are both @tamakiamajlkl (those are l's, not i's). it's mostly bnha and general life screaming and sometimes naruto. if u want to talk about this fic outside of comments, i wouldn't mind answering an anon ask or a dm at either of those places.


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